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PRICE.  ONE  DOLLAR 


(Ilnnti^ttttott 

1904/ 

NOMINATING  FOR  PRESIDENT 

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FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT 

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COMPILED  AND   EDITED   BY  HENRY  KANEGSBERG 


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ZBB-Zra  QIatial  B'lrM 

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Copyright,  1904,  by 

Isaac  H.  Blanchard  Co., 

New  York. 


PREFACE 

This  handsome  volume,  which  has  been  care- 
fully compiled  and  revised,  presents  to  the  pub- 
He  a  true  exposition  of  the  principles  and  pol- 
icies of  the  Republican  party,  as  well  as  an 
insight  into  the  life,  character  and  public  serv- 
ices of  its  candidates,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  of 
New  York,  and  Charles  Warren  Fairbanks,  of 
Indiana. 

These  addresses  are  replete  with  many 
rhetorical  gems  of  historical  fact  and  political 
wisdom,  which  entitle  them  to  rank  with  the 
best  efforts  of  our  famous  statesmen  and 
orators  of  bygone  days. 

The  volume  will  prove  an  invaluable  text- 
book in  schools  and  colleges,  and  should  be 
placed  on  file  in  every  libraiy,  reading-room 
and  political  organization  throughout  the  land. 

Henry  Kanegsberg. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

National  Committee 7-8 

Platfoem,  Campaign  of  1904  .     .    .        9-18 

PRAYERS 

Rev.  Timothy  P.  Frost     ....  25-28 

Rev.  Thomas  E.  Cox 29-30 

Rev.  Thaddeus  A.  Snivel y    .    .    .  31-36 

ADDRESSES 

Elihu  Root 39-84 

Joseph  G.  Cannon 85-104 

Frank  S.  Black 105-116 

Albert  J.  Beveridge 117-126 

George  A.  K'night 127-132 

Harry  Stilwell  Edwards    .     .     .  133-142 
William  O.  Bradley 143-150 

5 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

Joseph  B.  Cotton 151-156 

Harry  S.  Cummings 157-162 

Jonathan  P.  Dolliver    ....  163-170 

Chauncey  M.  Depew 171-180 

Joseph  B.  Foraker 181-184 

Samuel  W.  Pennypacker    .      .     .  185-186 
Thomas  H.  Carter 187-188 

CAREERS 

Theodore  Roosevelt 191-194 

Charles  Warren  Fairbanks     .     .  195-199 
George  B.  Cortelyou 200-201 

Notification  by  Speaker  Cannon  .  202-210 
Acceptance  by  President  Roosevelt  211-224 


REPUBLICAN  NATIONAL 
COMMITTEE 

GEORGE  B.  CORTELYOU,  Chairman. 
ELMER  DOVER,  Secretary. 
CORNELIUS  N.  BLISS,  Treasurer. 
WILLIAM  F.  STONE,  Sergeant-at-Arms. 

Alabama — Charles  H,  Scott. 
Arkansas — Powell  Clayton. 
California — George  A.  Knight. 
Colorado — A.  M.  Stevenson. 
Connecticut — Charles  F.  Brooker. 
Delaware — J.  Edward  Addicks. 
Florida — J.  N.  Coombs. 
Georgia — Judson  W.  Lyons. 
Idaho — Welden  B.  Heyburn. 
Illinois — Frank  O.  Lowden. . 
Indiana — Harry  S.  New. 
Iowa — Ernest  E.  Hart. 
Kansas — David  W.  Mulvane. 
Kentucky — John  W.  Yerkes. 
Louisiana— Vacant. 
Maine — John  F.  Hill. 
Marj'land — Louis  E.  McComas. 
Massachusetts — W.  Murray  Crane. 
Michigan — John  W.  Blodgett. 
Minnesota — Frank  B.  Kellogg. 
Mississippi — L.  B.  Moseley. 
Missouri — Thomas  J.  Aikens. 
Montana — John  B.  Waite. 
Nebraska — Charles  H.  MorrUl. 
Nevada — P.  L.  Flanigan. 
New  Hampshire — Frank  T.  Streeter. 


NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 

New  Jersey — Franklin  Murphy. 
New  York— William  L.  Ward. 
North  Carolina — E.  C.  Duncan. 
North  Dakota — Alexander  McKenzie. 
Ohio — Myron  T.  Herrick. 
Oregon — Charles  H.  Carey. 
Pennsylvania — Boies  Penrose. 
Rhode  Island — Chas.  R.  Brayton. 
South  Carolina — John  G.  Capers. 
South  Dakota — J.  M.  Greene. 
Tennessee — W.  P.  Brownlow. 
Texas — Cecil  A.  Lyon. 
Utah— C.  E.  Loose. 
Vermont — James  Brock. 
Virginia — George  E.  Bowden. 
Washington — Levi  Ankeny. 
West  Virginia— N.  B.  Scott. 
Wisconsin — Henry  C.  Payne. 
Wyoming — George  E.  Pexton. 
Alaska — ^John  G.  Held. 
Arizona — W.  S.  Sturgis. 
District  of  Columbia — Robert  Reyburn. 
Indian  Territory — P.  L.  Soper. 
New  Mexico — Solomon  Luna. 
Oklahoma — C.  M.  Cade. 
Philippines — Henry  B.  McCoy. 
Porto  Rico— Robert  H.  Todd. 
Hawaii — Alexander  G.  M.  Robertson. 


THE  PLATFORM. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  Republican  Party  came 
into  existence  dedicated,  among  other  purposes, 
to  the  great  task  of  arresting  the  extension  of 
human  slavery.  In  1860  it  elected  its  first 
President. 

During  twenty-four  of  the  forty-four  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  the  election  of  Lin- 
coln the  Republican  Party  has  held  complete 
control  of  the  government.  For  eighteen  more 
of  the  forty-four  years  it  has  held  partial  con- 
trol through  the  possession  of  one  or  two 
branches  of  the  government,  while  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  during  the  same  period  has  had 
complete  control  for  only  two  years. 

This  long  tenure  of  power  by  the  Republican 
Party  is  not  due  to  chance.  It  is  a  demonstra- 
tion that  the  Republican  Party  has  commanded 
the  confidence  of  the  American  people  for 
nearly  two  generations  to  a  degree  never 
equaled  in  our  history,  and  has  displayed  a  high 
capacity  for  rule  and  government,  which  has 
been  made  even  more  conspicuous  by  the  inca- 
pacity and  infii'mity  of  purpose  shown  by  its 
opponents. 

9 


PLATFORM^   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

The  Republican  Party  entered  upon  its  pres- 
ent period  of  complete  supremacy  in  1897.  We 
have  every  right  to  congratulate  ourselves  upon 
the  work  since  then  accomplished,  for  it  has 
added  lustre  even  to  the  traditions  of  the  party 
which  carried  the  Government  through  the 
storms  of  civil  war. 

We  then  found  the  country,  after  four  years 
of  Democratic  rule,  in  evil  plight,  oppressed 
with  misfortune  and  doubtful  of  the  future. 
Public  credit  had  been  lowered,  the  revenues 
were  declining,  the  debt  was  growing,  the  ad- 
ministration's attitude  toward  Spain  was  feeble 
and  mortifying,  the  standard  of  values  was 
threatened  and  uncertain,  labor  was  unem- 
ployed, business  was  sunk  in  the  depression 
which  had  succeeded  the  panic  of  1893,  hope 
was  faint,  and  confidence  was  gone. 

We  met  these  unhappy  conditions  vigor- 
ously, effectively,  and  at  once. 

We  replaced  a  Democratic  tariff  law  based 
on  free  trade  principles  and  garnished  with 
sectional  protection  by  a  consistent  protective 
tariff,  and  industry,  freed  from  oppression  and 
stimulated  by  the  encouragement  of  wise  laws, 
has  expanded  to  a  degree  never  before  known, 
has  conquered  new  markets,  and  has  created  a 
volume  of  exports,  which  has  surpassed  im- 

10 


1»LATF0RM,   CAMPAIGN  OF    1904 

agination.  Under  the  Dingley  tariff  labor  has 
been  fully  employed,  wages  have  risen,  and  all 
industries  have  revived  and  prospered. 

GOLD  STANDARD  ESTABLISHED. 

We  firmly  established  the  gold  standard, 
which  was  then  menaced  with  destruction.  Con- 
fidence returned  to  business,  and  with  confi- 
dence an  unexampled  prosperity. 

For  deficient  revenues  supplemented  by  im- 
provident issues  of  bonds  we  gave  the  country 
an  income  which  produced  a  large  surplus  and 
which  enabled  us  only  four  years  after  the 
Spanish  war  had  closed  to  remove  over  $100,- 
000,000  of  annual  war  taxes,  reduce  the  public 
debt,  and  lower  the  interest  charges  of  the 
Government. 

The  public  credit,  which  had  been  so  low- 
ered that  in  time  of  peace  a  Democratic  admin- 
istration made  large  loans  at  extravagant  rates 
of  interest  in  order  to  pay  current  expenditures, 
rose  under  Republican  administration  to  its 
highest  point,  and  enabled  us  to  borrow  at  2  per 
cent,  even  in  time  of  war. 

We  refused  to  palter  longer  with  the  miseries 
of  Cuba.  We  fought  a  quick  and  victorious 
war  with  Spain.     We  set  Cuba  free,  governed 

11 


PLATFORM^   CAMPAIGN  OF    1904 

the  island  for  three  years,  and  then  gave  it  to 
the  Cuban  people  with  order  restored,  with 
ample  revenues,  with  education  and  public 
health  established,  free  from  debt  and  con- 
nected with  the  United  States  by  wise  pro- 
visions for  our  mutual  interests. 

We  have  organized  the  government  of 
Porto  Rico,  and  its  people  now  enjoy  peace, 
freedom,  order,  and  prosperity. 

In  the  Philippines  we  have  suppressed  insur- 
rection, established  order,  and  given  to  life  and 
property  a  security  never  known  there  before. 
We  have  organized  civil  government,  made  it 
effective  and  strong  in  administration,  and 
have  conferred  upon  the  people  of  those  islands 
the  largest  civil  liberty  they  have  ever  enjoyed. 

By  our  possession  of  the  Philippines  we  were 
enabled  to  take  prompt  and  effective  action  in 
the  relief  of  the  legations  at  Peking  and  a  de- 
cisive part  in  preventing  the  partition  and  pre- 
serving the  integrity  of  China. 

CANAL  WORK  AT  LAST  BEGUN. 

The  possession  of  a  route  for  an  Isthmian 
canal,  so  long  the  dream  of  American  states- 
manship, is  now  an  accomplished  fact.  The 
great  work  of  connecting  the  Pacific  and  Atlan- 

12 


PLATFORM,   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

tic  by  a  canal  is  at  last  begun,  and  it  is  due  to 
the  Republican  Party. 

We  have  passed  laws  which  will  bring  the 
arid  lands  of  the  United  States  within  the  area 
of  cultivation. 

We  have  reorganized  the  army  and  put  it  in 
the  highest  state  of  efficiency. 

We  have  passed  laws  for  the  improvement 
and  support  of  the  militia. 

We  have  pushed  forward  the  building  of  the 
navy,  the  defense  and  protection  of  our  honor 
and  our  interests. 

Our  administration  of  the  great  departments 
of  the  Government  has  been  honest  and  effi- 
cient, and  wherever  wrongdoing  has  been  dis- 
covered the  Republican  administration  has  not 
hesitated  to  probe  the  evil  and  bring  offenders 
to  justice  without  regard  to  party  or  political 
ties. 

Laws  enacted  by  the  Republican  Party, 
which  the  Democratic  Party  failed  to  enforce, 
and  which  were  intended  for  the  protection  of 
the  public  against  the  unjust  discrimination 
or  the  illegal  encroachment  of  vast  aggrega- 
tions of  capital,  have  been  fearlessly  enforced 
by  a  Republican  President,  and  new  laws  in- 
suring reasonable  publicity  as  to  the  operations 
of  great  corporations  and  providing  additional 

13 


PLATFORM,   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

remedies  for  the  prevention  of  discrimination  in 
freight  rates  have  been  passed  by  a  Republican 
Congress. 

TARIFF   MUST   BE  LEFT   TO   ITS  FRIENDS. 

In  this  record  of  achievement  during  the  past 
eight  years  may  be  read  the  pledges  which  the 
Republican  Party  has  fulfilled.  We  promise 
to  continue  these  policies,  and  we  declare  our 
constant  adherence  to  the  following  principles : 

Protection,  which  guards  and  develops  our 
industries,  is  a  cardinal  policy  of  the  Republi- 
can Party.  The  measure  of  protection  should 
always  at  least  equal  the  difference  in  the  cost 
of  production  at  home  and  abroad. 

We  insist  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  protection,  and  therefore  rates  of  duty 
should  be  readjusted  only  when  conditions  have 
so  changed  that  the  public  interest  demands 
their  alteration,  but  this  work  cannot  safely  be 
committed  to  any  other  hands  than  those  of  the 
Republican  Party. 

To  intrust  it  to  the  Democratic  Party  is  to 
invite  disaster.  Whether,  as  in  1892,  the  Dem- 
ocratic Party  declares  the  protective  tariff  un- 
constitutional, or  whether  it  demands  tariff  re- 
form, or  tariff  revision,  its  real  object  is  always 
the  destruction  of  the  protective  sj'^stem. 

14 


PLATFORM^   CAMPAIGN  OF    1904 

However  specious  the  name,  the  purpose  ii^ 
ever  the  same.  A  Democratic  tariff  has  always 
been  followed  by  business  adversity ;  a  Repub- 
lican tariff  by  business  prosperity. 

To  a  Republican  Congress  and  a  Republican 
President  this  great  question  can  be  safely  in- 
trusted. When  the  only  free-trade  country 
among  the  great  nations  agitates  a  return  to 
protection  the  chief  protective  country  should 
not  falter  in  maintaining  it. 

We  have  extended  widely  our  foreign  mar- 
kets, and  we  believe  in  the  adoption  of  all  prac- 
ticable methods  for  their  further  extension,  in- 
cluding commercial  reciprocity  wherever  recip- 
rocal arrangements  can  be  effected  consistent 
with  the  principles  of  protection  and  without 
injury  to  American  agriculture,  American 
labor,  or  any  American  industry. 

SHIP  SUBSIDY  PLANK. 

We  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Republi- 
can Party  to  uphold  the  gold  standard  and  the 
integrity  and  value  of  oiu*  national  currency. 
The  maintenance  of  the  gold  standard,  estab- 
lished by  the  Republican  Party,  cannot  safely 
be  committed  to  the  Democratic  Party,  who 
resisted  its  adoption  and  has  never  given  any 

15 


PLATFORM^   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

proof  since  that  time  of  belief  in  it  or  fidelity 
to  it. 

While  every  other  industry  has  prospered 
under  the  fostering  aid  of  Republican  legisla- 
tion, American  shipping,  engaged  in  foreign 
trade  in  competition  with  the  low  cost  of  con- 
struction, low  wages,  and  heavy  subsidies  of 
foreign  governments,  has  not  for  many  years 
received  from  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  adequate  encouragement  of  any  kind. 
We  therefore  favor  legislation  which  will  en- 
courage and  build  up  the  American  merchant 
marine,  and  we  cordially  approve  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  last  Congress,  which  created  the 
Merchant  Marine  Commission  to  investigate 
and  report  upon  this  subject. 

A  navy  powerful  enough  to  defend  the 
United  States  against  any  attack,  to  uphold 
the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  watch  over  our  com- 
merce is  essential  to  the  safety  and  the  welfare 
of  the  American  people.  To  maintain  such  a 
navy  is  the  fixed  policy  of  the  Republican 
Party. 

We  cordially  approve  the  attitude  of  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  and  Congress  in  regard  to  the 
exclusion  of  Chinese  labor  and  promise  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  Republican  policy  in  that  direc- 
tion. 

16 


PLATFORM^   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

The  civil  service  law  was  placed  on  the 
statute  books  by  the  Republican  Party,  which 
has  always  sustained  it,  and  we  renew  our  for- 
mer declarations  that  it  shall  be  thoroughly  and 
honestly  enforced. 

We  are  always  mindful  of  the  country's  debt 
to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  United  States 
and  we  believe  in  making  ample  provision  for 
them  and  in  the  liberal  administration  of  the 
pension  laws. 

We  favor  the  peaceful  settlement  of  inter- 
national differences  by  arbitration. 

FOR  FREEDOM  OF  TRAVEL  ABROAD. 

We  commend  the  vigorous  efforts  made  by 
the  administration  to  protect  American  citizens 
in  foreign  lands  and  pledge  ourselves  to  insist 
upon  the  just  and  equal  protection  of  all  our 
citizens  abroad.  It  is  the  unquestioned  duty  of 
the  Government  to  procure  for  all  our  citizens, 
without  distinction,  the  rights  of  travel  and 
sojourn  in  friendly  countries,  and  we  declare 
ourselves  in  favor  of  all  proper  efforts  tending 
to  that  end. 

Our  great  interests  and  our  growing  com- 
merce in  the  Orient  render  the  condition  of 
China  of  high  importance  to  the  United  States. 

17 


PLATFORM^   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

We  cordially  commend  the  policy  pursued  in 
that  direction  by  the  administrations  of  Pres- 
ident McKinley  and  President  Roosevelt. 

We  favor  such  Congressional  action  as  shall 
determine  whether  by  special  discriminations 
the  elective  franchise  in  any  State  has  been  un- 
constitutionally limited,  and,  if  such  is  the  case, 
we  demand  that  representation  in  Congress  and 
in  the  Electoral  Colleges  shall  be  proportion- 
ally reduced  as  directed  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States. 

Combinations  of  capital  and  of  labor  are  the 
results  of  the  economic  movement  of  the  age, 
but  neither  must  be  permitted  to  infringe  upon 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people.  Such 
combinations  when  lawfully  formed  for  lawful 
purposes  are  alike  entitled  to  the  protection  of 
the  laws,  but  both  are  subject  to  the  laws,  and 
neither  can  be  permitted  to  break  them. 

The  great  statesman  and  patriotic  Ameri- 
can, William  McKinley,  who  was  re-elected  by 
the  Republican  Party  to  the  Presidency  four 
years  ago,  was  assassinated  just  at  the  threshold 
of  his  second  term.  The  entire  nation  mourned 
his  untimely  death  and  did  that  justice  to  his 
great  qualities  of  mind  and  character  which 
history  will  confirm  and  repeat. 

The  American  people  were  fortunate  in  his 

18 


PLATFORM,   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

successor,  to  whom  they  turned  with  a  trust  and 
confidence  which  have  been  fully  justified. 
President  Roosevelt  brought  to  the  great  re- 
sponsibilities thus  sadly  forced  upon  him  a  clear 
head,  a  brave  heart,  an  earnest  patriotism,  and 
high  ideals  of  public  duty  and  public  service. 
True  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
Party  and  to  the  policies  which  that  party  had 
declared,  he  has  also  shown  himself  ready  for 
every  emergency  and  has  met  new  and  vital 
questions  with  ability  and  with  success. 

EULOGY   OF  THE   PRESIDENT. 

The  confidence  of  the  people  in  his  justice, 
inspired  by  his  public  career,  enabled  him  to 
render  personally  an  inestimable  service  to  the 
country  by  bringing  about  a  settlement  of  the 
coal  strike,  which  threatened  such  disastrous 
results  at  the  opening  of  winter  in  1902. 

Our  foreign  policy  under  his  administration 
has  not  only  been  able,  vigorous  and  dignified, 
but  in  the  highest  degree  successful.  The  com- 
plicated questions  which  arose  in  Venezuela 
were  settled  in  such  a  way  by  President  Roose- 
velt that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  signally  vin- 
dicated, and  the  cause  of  peace  and  arbitration 
greatly  advanced. 

19 


PLATFOKM^   CAMPAIGN  OF   1904 

His  prompt  and  vigorous  action  in  Panama, 
which  we  commend  in  the  highest  terms,  not 
only  secured  to  us  the  canal  route,  but  avoided 
all  foreign  complications,  which  might  have 
been  of  a  very  serious  character. 

He  has  continued  the  policy  of  President 
McKinley  in  the  Orient,  and  our  position  in 
China,  signalized  by  our  recent  commercial 
treaty  with  that  empire,  has  never  been  so  high. 

He  secured  the  tribunal  by  which  the  vexed 
and  perilous  question  of  the  Alaskan  boundary 
was  fmally  settled. 

Whenever  crimes  against  humanity  have 
been  perpetrated  which  have  shocked  our  peo- 
ple, his  protest  has  been  made,  and  our  good 
offices  have  been  tendered,  but  always  with  due 
regard  to  international  obligations. 

Under  his  guidance  we  find  ourselves  at 
peace  with  all  the  world,  and  never  were  we 
more  respected  or  our  wishes  more  regarded  by 
foreign  nations. 

Pre-eminently  successful  in  regard  to  our 
foreign  relations,  he  has  been  equally  fortunate 
in  dealing  with  domestic  questions.  The  coun- 
try has  known  that  the  public  credit  and  the 
national  currency  were  absolutely  safe  in  the 
hands  of  his  administration.  In  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  he  has  shown  not  only  cour- 
se 


PLATFORM,    CAMPAIGN   OF    1904 

age,  but  the  wisdom  which  understands  that  to 
permit  laws  to  be  violated  or  disregarded  opens 
the  door  to  anarchy,  while  the  just  enforcement 
of  the  law  is  the  soundest  conservatism.  He 
has  held  firmly  to  the  fundamental  American 
doctrine  that  all  men  must  obey  the  law,  that 
there  must  be  no  distinction  between  rich  and 
poor,  between  strong  and  weak,  but  that  justice 
and  equal  protection  under  the  law  must  be  se- 
cured to  every  citizen  without  regard  to  race, 
creed,  or  condition. 

His  administration  has  been  throughout  vig- 
orous and  honorable,  high-minded  and  patriotic. 

We  commend  it  without  reservation  to  the 
considerate  judgment  of  the  American  people. 


«i 


PRAYERS 


Prayer  by  Rev.  Timothy  P.  Frost,  pastor  of 
the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
Evanston,  III. 

Almighty  God,  our  help  in  ages  past,  our 
hope  for  years  to  come,  we  thank  Thee  for  Thy 
goodness  to  the  people  of  this  land!  Our  sins 
have  been  many,  but  Thy  mercies  have  been 
great.  Thou  has  poured  out  Thy  gifts  with- 
out measure.  The  opening  years  of  a  new  cen- 
tury have  been  freighted  with  wealth  for  hand 
and  mind  and  heart.  Best  of  all,  Thou  art 
giving  Thyself  in  a  perpetual  offering  of  Thy 
life  for  the  life  of  man.  We  do  not  forget 
that  in  the  hour  of  deep  sorrow,  when  the  heart 
of  the  nation  was  darkened  by  the  murder  of 
the  nation's  chief,  there  was  no  break  in  the 
march  of  Thy  purpose,  the  orderly  administra- 
tion of  our  government  or  the  faith  of  the  peo- 
ple in  their  God.  Under  the  guidance  of  Thy 
Holy  Spirit  we  have  been  brought  by  our  na- 
tional woes  nearer  to  Thee. 

Surely  Thou  wilt  never  forsake  this  people. 
May  no  dominance  of  greed,  no  riot  of  passion, 
no  weakening  of  religious  conviction  or  en- 
thronement of  matter  over  spirit  cause  the  peo- 

25 


REV.   TIMOTHY    P.    FROST 

pie  to  forsake  Thee.  May  the  heritage  of 
honor  coming  to  us  from  the  fathers  in  mem- 
ories of  noble  sacrifices  and  valiant  deeds  be  at 
once  our  glad  possession  and  our  sacred  trust. 
While  we  are  grateful  for  the  past,  may  we 
remember  that  to-day  is  better  than  yesterday, 
and  so  act  that  the  morrow  shall  be  greater  than 
to-day.  Wherever  our  country's  flag  floats  as 
the  symbol  of  government,  even  unto  the  isles 
of  the  sea,  may  we  cleave  unto  the  righteous- 
ness that  exalteth  a  nation  and  cast  out  the  sin 
that  is  a  reproach  to  any  people^ 

Save  our  nation,  we  beseech  Thee,  from  all 
the  evil  things  which  defile  the  home,  impair 
civil  liberty,  corrupt  politics  or  undermine  the 
integrity  of  commercial  life.  Bring  to  naught 
the  schemes  of  men  who  would  debauch  or 
oppress  human  life  for  the  gratification  of  lust 
or  for  personal  enrichment  or  power.  May 
exaltation  come  only  to  men  who  despise  the 
gain  of  oppressions  and  shake  the  hands  from 
holding  of  bribes.  May  all  sections  and  races, 
all  creeds  and  sentiments,  all  occupations  and 
interests,  become  united  through  the  Spirit  of 
the  Highest  into  a  citizenship  with  a  passion 
for  righteousness,  wherein  each  individual  shall 
look  up  to  God  as  the  Father  of  all  and  on 
every  man  as  a  brother.     We  pray  Thee  to 

26 


REY.   TIMOTHY   P.    FROST 

overrule  the  deliberations,  conclusions  and  is- 
sues of  this  convention  for  the  good  of  the 
American  people  and  the  welfare  of  mankind. 
Bless  Thy  servant,  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  our 
nation.  May  he  and  all  others  clothed  with 
authority  by  the  sovereign  people  be  protected 
by  the  powers  of  Thy  kingdom,  and  contribute 
to  its  ultimate  triumph  and  consummation  in 
all  the  earth. 

All  nations  are  Thy  children.  Guide  and 
keep  them  by  Thy  gracious  providence,  and 
hasten  the  coming  of  the  day  when  love  shall 
have  conquered  hate  and  war  shall  have  ceased 
and  all  peoples  shall  dwell  together  in  unity. 
For  Thine  is  the  kingdom  and  the  power  and 
the  glory  forever.     Amen. 


27 


Invocation  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  E. 
Cox,  of  the  Holy  Name  Cathedral,  Chicago. 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  Heaven,  we  thank 
Thee  for  the  opportunities  of  this  day.  In  all 
humility  we  adore  Thy  sovereign  majesty.  To 
Thee  we  look  for  grace  and  guidance.  In  Thy 
hands  are  the  destinies  of  nations,  Thy  provi- 
dence enters  into  the  careers  of  man.  There  is 
no  just  power  but  from  Thee.  Thy  will  is  the 
sole  source  of  law  and  good  government. 

Bless  the  deliberations  of  this  convention. 
Give  us  wisdom  and  understanding.  Let  us 
not  forget  those  who  have  bequeathed  to  us  a 
glorious  history.  Drive  far  from  us  all  self- 
seeking.  Fill  us  with  love  of  country,  of  peace, 
of  forbearance  and  of  justice.  For  "justice 
exalteth  a  nation,  but  when  the  wicked  bear 
rule,  peoples  perish."  "Thy  Kingdom  come." 
Hasten  the  day  when  it  shall  be  said:  "The 
Kingdom  of  this  world  is  become  our  Lord's 
and  His  Christ's,  and  He  shall  reign  forever 
and  ever."    Amen. 


29 


V^^^^^/V^,     ^^,    s/^^-m^ 


•f- 


Prayer  by  Rev.  Thaddeus  A.  Snively,  rector 
of  St.  Chrysostom's  Church. 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  In- 
finite, Eternal:  All- Wise  and  Ever  Merciful, 
Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  mankind,  with 
profound  reverence  we  acknowledge  Thee  as 
the  Source  of  Life  and  Strength,  the  Great 
Invisible  One  Who  speaks  to  us  through  this 
wonderful  universe,  of  which  man,  so  marvel- 
lous, is  but  one  of  Thy  numberless  works  of 
wonder  and  power.  We  confess  Thee  as  the 
Giver  of  hfe  and  light,  and  every  good  and 
perfect  gift. 

Gathered  here  as  children  of  this  great  and 
wonderful  country,  where  man  has  drawn  near 
to  Thee,  we  beseech  Thee  to  be  with  us  in  loving 
benediction  and  guide  us  in  our  thoughts  and 
words  and  deeds.  As  citizens  of  this  land  of 
privilege  and  freedom  to  all,  we  pray  for  our 
country — the  dear  land  for  which  our  fathers 
fought  in  the  long  strife  for  freedom  for  all. 
By  Thy  gracious  help  it  is  the  land  of  the  free 
and  the  home  of  the  brave.  We  pray  that 
Thou  wilt  guide  us  ever  by  Thy  power  and 
wisdom  in  such  ways  that  our  liberty  may  never 

31 


REV.    THADDEUS   A.    SNIVELY 

degenerate  into  license,  and  that  our  people 
may  be  brave,  not  simply  with  brute  courage 
that  is  ready  to  face  force  and  violence,  but 
with  the  higher  moral  power  which  makes  us 
strong  to  battle  for  the  truth  and  honor  and 
noble  principle. 

We  beseech  Thee  to  give  to  our  whole  nation 
the  strong  desire  and  purpose  to  uphold  law 
and  order  and  to  seek  noble  character  and  true 
integrity  as  the  most  sublime  achievements  of 
the  race,  far  greater  and  more  precious  than 
riches  or  mighty  conquests.  Grant,  we  pray 
Thee,  that  the  benumbing  touch  of  material 
possessions  and  the  lust  of  power  may  never 
blind  us  to  the  true  greatness  and  glory  of 
moral  advancement.  Help  us  ever  to  remem- 
ber that  the  fathers  of  this  land  and  government 
were  patriots  of  never-dying  fame,  because 
they  beheved  that  poverty  and  defeat  with  un- 
sullied honor  are  far  better  than  vast  wealth 
and  world-wide  influence  purchased  at  the  cost 
of  shame  and  dishonor.  We  beseech  Thee,  O 
Thou  God  of  Love  and  Peace,  to  keep  from 
us  all  those  who  would  overthrow  the  old  stand- 
ards of  peace  and  harmony  and  brotherhood, 
and  grant  that  the  jsense  of  true  brotherly  love 
and  mutual  respect  may  prevail  among  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  our  people  and  that 

32 


REV.   THADDEUS  A.   SNIVELY 

peace  and  justice  may  be  our  aim  and  ambition, 
both  within  and  beyond  our  borders.  May  that 
feehng  of  love  and  oneness  with  all  mankind 
grow  stronger  year  by  year. 

Help  us  to  keep  down  selfishness  and  bitter- 
ness, and  by  Thy  tender  grace  make  stronger 
the  sense  of  dependence  upon  Thee  and  of  duty 
to  all  mankind. 

In  this  seedtime  of  the  year,  we  pray  Thee  to 
bless  the  harvest.  Send  Thy  blessing  upon  the 
multitudes  who  work  upon  the  rich  lands.  May 
abundant  crops  be  the  reward  of  the  husband- 
men whose  labors  make  possible  the  feeding  of 
the  vast  multitudes  of  Thy  children,  abundant 
increase  of  grain  and  fruits  to  keep  in  busy 
movement  the  mighty  engines  of  commerce, 
and  the  looms  and  machines  of  human  industry ; 
that  thus  hunger  and  idleness  and  want  may  be 
kept  far  away  from  our  people  and  prosperity 
dwell  within  our  country. 

Our  Heavenly  Father,  Whose  kingdom  is 
everlasting  and  power  infinite,  we  pray  Thee 
to  send  Thy  blessing  upon  all  our  country  and 
all  our  people,  and  especially  upon  all  those  on 
whom  authority  and  the  execution  of  the  laws 
rest,  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States ; 
upon  the  Governors  of  all  the  commonwealths 
which  make  this  a  land  of  many  States;  upon 


IIEV.    THADDEUS   A.    LIVELY 

the  Congress  of  the  nation,  and  upon  the  legis- 
latures of  the  different  States,  and  upon  all 
who  occupy  places  of  trust  and  responsibility, 
that  they,  knowing  whose  ministers  they  are, 
may  above  all  things  seek  thy  honor  and  glory. 

Wilt  Thou  grant  them  Thy  grace  that  they 
may  always  incline  to  Thy  will  and  walk  in 
Thy  way. 

And  may  all  the  people,  duly  considering 
that  it  is  Thy  authority  that  they  bear,  faith- 
fully and  obediently  honor  them  and  aid  them 
in  guarding  the  highest  standards  of  upright- 
ness and  integrity  and  unselfish  patriotism. 

Upon  this  great  multitude  here  gathered,  we 
ask  Thy  blessing.  Keep  before  us,  we  pray 
Thee,  high  motive  and  lofty  aim,  and  grant,  in 
Thy  infinite  goodness,  that  this  convention  may 
have  its  part  in  holding  aloft  the  highest  ideals 
and  most  glorious  standards  of  true  citizenship. 
Wilt  Thou  so  direct  their  deliberations  that 
only  high  influences  may  have  sway,  and  that 
the  best  results  for  our  dear  country  may  be 
advanced  by  their  work ;  that  thus  they  may  do 
their  part  in  helping  to  the  ordering  and  set- 
tling of  all  things  upon  the  best  and  surest 
foundations  that  peace  and  happiness,  truth 
and  justice,  religion  and  piety,  may  be  estab- 
lished among  us  for  all  generations. 

34 


REV.   THADDEUS  A.    LIVELY 

Finally,  we  pray  for  all  the  people  of  this 
land,  that  Thou  wouldst  direct  us,  O  Lord,  in 
all  our  doings  with  Thy  most  gracious  favor, 
and  further  us  with  Thy  continual  help,  that 
in  all  our  works  begun,  continued  and  ended  in 
Thee,  we  may  glorify  Thy  holy  name,  and, 
finally,  by  Thy  mercy,  obtain  everlasting  life 
through  Him  Who  has  taught  us  to  say : 

"Our  Father  Who  art  in  Heaven,  Hallowed 
be  Thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will 
be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  Heaven.  Give 
us  this  day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us 
our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  those  who  trespass 
against  us.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation, 
but  deliver  us  from  evil :  for  Thine  is  the  king- 
dom and  the  power  and  the  glory,  forever  and 
ever."     Amen. 


35 


ADDRESSES 


Address  by  Temporary  Chairman  Elihu  Boot, 
of  New  York. 

The  responsibility  of  government  rests  upon 
the  Republican  party.  The  complicated  ma- 
chinery through  which  the  80,000,000  people  of 
the  United  States  govern  themselves  answers 
to  no  single  will.  The  composite  government 
devised  by  the  f ramers  of  the  Constitution  to 
meet  the  conditions  of  national  life  more  than 
a  century  ago  requires  the  willing  co-operation 
of  many  minds,  the  combination  of  many  inde- 
pendent factors,  in  every  forward  step  for  the 
general  welfare. 

The  President  at  Washington  with  his  Cabi- 
net, the  ninety  Senators  representing  forty-five 
sovereign  States,  the  386  Representatives  in 
Congress — are  required  to  reach  concurrent  ac- 
tion upon  a  multitude  of  questions  involving 
varied  and  conflicting  interests  and  requiring 
investigation,  information,  discussion  and  rec- 
onciliation of  views.  From  all  our  vast  terri- 
tory, with  its  varieties  of  climate  and  industry, 
from  all  our  great  population  active  in  produc- 
tion and  commerce  and  social  progress  and  in- 
tellectual and  moral  life  to  a  degree  never  be- 

39 


ELIHU  ROOT 

fore  attained  by  any  people — difficult  problems 
press  upon  the  national  government. 

Within  the  past  five  years  more  than  sixty- 
six  thousand  bills  have  been  introduced  in  Con- 
gress. Some  method  of  selection  must  be  fol- 
lowed. There  must  be  some  preliminary  proc- 
ess to  ascertain  the  general  tenor  of  pubfic 
judgment  upon  the  principles  to  be  apphed  in 
government,  and  some  organization  and  recog- 
nition of  leadership  which  shall  bring  a  legisla- 
tive majority  and  the  Executive  into  accord  in 
the  practical  appfication  of  those  principles, 
or  eiFective  government  becomes  impossible. 

The  practical  governing  instinct  of  our  peo- 
ple has  adapted  the  machinery  devised  in  the 
eighteenth  to  the  conditions  of  the  twentieth 
century  by  the  organization  of  national  poHtical 
parties.  In  them  men  join  for  the  promotion 
of  a  few  cardinal  principles  upon  which  they 
agree.  For  the  sake  of  those  principles  they 
lay  aside  their  diiFerences  upon  less  important 
questions.  To  represent  those  principles  and 
to  carry  on  the  government  in  accordance  with 
them,  they  present  to  the  people  candidates 
whose  competency  and  loyalty  they  approve. 
The  people  by  their  choice  of  candidates  indi- 
cate the  principles  and  methods  which  they 
wish  followed  in  the  conduct  of  their  govern- 

40 


ELIHU  ROOT 

ment.  They  do  not  merely  choose  between 
men ;  they  choose  between  parties — between  the 
principles  they  profess,  the  methods  they  fol- 
low, the  trustworthiness  of  their  professions, 
the  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  the  records 
of  their  past,  the  general  weight  of  character 
of  the  body  of  men  who  will  be  brought  into 
participation  in  government  by  their  ascend- 
ancy. 

When  the  course  of  the  next  administration 
is  but  half  done  the  Republican  party  will  have 
completed  the  first  half -century  of  its  national 
life.  Of  the  eleven  administrations  since  the 
first  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  nine — cov- 
ering a  period  of  thirty-six  years — have  been 
under  Republican  presidents.  For  the  greater 
part  of  that  time  the  majority  in  each  House 
of  Congress  has  been  Republican.  History  af- 
fords no  parallel  in  any  age  or  country  for  the 
growth  in  national  greatness  and  power  and 
honor,  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  comforts  of 
life,  the  uphfting  of  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple above  the  hard  conditions  of  poverty,  the 
common  opportunity  for  education  and  indi- 
vidual advancement,  the  universal  possession 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  protection  of 
property  and  security  for  the  rewards  of  in- 
dustry and  enterprise,  the  cultivation  of  na- 

41 


ELIHU  ROOT 

tional  morality,  respect  for  religion,  sympathy 
with  humanity  and  love  of  liberty  and  justice, 
which  have  marked  the  life  of  the  American 
people  during  this  long  period  of  Republican 
control. 

With  the  platform  and  the  candidates  of  this 
convention,  we  are  about  to  ask  a  renewed  ex- 
pression of  popular  confidence  in  the  Republi- 
can party. 

We  shall  ask  it  because  the  principles  to 
which  we  declare  our  adherence  are  right,  and 
the  best  interests  of  our  country  require  that 
they  should  be  followed  in  its  government. 

We  shall  ask  it  because  the  unbroken  record 
of  the  Republican  party  in  the  past  is  an  as- 
surance of  the  sincerity  of  our  declarations  and 
the  fidelity  with  which  we  shall  give  them  ef- 
fect. Because  we  have  been  constant  in  prin- 
ciple, loyal  to  our  beliefs  and  faithful  to  our 
promises,  we  are  entitled  to  be  believed  and 
trusted  now. 

We  shall  ask  it  because  the  character  of  the 
party  gives  assurance  of  good  government.  A 
great  political  organization,  competent  to  gov- 
ern, is  not  a  chance  collection  of  individuals 
brought  together  for  the  moment  as  the  shift- 
ing sands  are  piled  up  by  wind  and  sea,  to  be 
swept  away,  to  be  formed  and  reformed  again. 

42 


ELIHU  ROOT 

It  Is  a  growth.  Traditions  and  sentiments 
reaching  down  through  struggles  of  years 
gone,  and  the  stress  and  heat  of  old  conflicts 
and  the  influence  of  leaders  passed  away,  and 
the  ingrained  habit  of  applying  fixed  rules  of 
interpretation  and  of  thought — all  give  to  a 
political  party  known  and  inalienable  qualities 
from  which  must  follow  in  its  deliberate  judg- 
ment and  ultimate  action  like  results  for  good 
or  bad  government.  We  do  not  deny  that 
other  parties  have  in  their  membership  men  of 
morality  and  patriotism;  but  we  assert  with 
confidence  that,  above  all  others,  by  the  influ- 
ences which  gave  it  birth  and  have  maintained 
its  life,  by  the  causes  for  which  it  has  striven, 
the  ideals  which  it  has  followed,  the  Republican 
party  as  a  party  has  acquired  a  character  which 
makes  its  ascendancy  the  best  guarantee  of  a 
government  loyal  to  principle  and  eff'ective  in 
execution.  Through  it  more  than  any  other 
political  organization  the  moral  sentiment  of 
America  finds  expression.  It  cannot  depart 
from  the  direction  of  its  tendencies.  From 
what  it  has  been  may  be  known  certainly  what 
it  must  be.  Not  all  of  us  rise  to  its  standard ; 
not  all  of  us  are  worthy  of  its  glorious  history; 
but,  as  a  whole,  this  great  political  organiza- 
tion— the  party  of  Lincoln  and  McKinley — 

43 


ELIHU  ROOT 

cannot  fail  to  work  in  the  spirit  of  its  past  and 
in  loyalty  to  great  ideals. 

We  shall  ask  the  continued  confidence  of  the 
people  because  the  candidates  whom  we  present 
are  of  proved  competency  and  patriotism,  fitted 
to  fill  the  offices  for  which  they  are  nominated, 
to  the  credit  and  honor  of  our  country. 

We  shall  ask  it  because  the  present  policies 
of  our  government  are  beneficial,  and  ought  not 
to  be  set  aside;  and  the  people's  business  is 
being  well  done,  and  ought  not  to  be  interfered 
with. 

Have  not  the  American  people  reason  for 
satisfaction  and  pride  in  the  conduct  of  their 
government  since  the  election  of  1900,  when 
they  rendered  their  judgment  of  approval 
upon  the  first  administration  of  President  Mc- 
Kinley?  Have  we  not  had  an  honest  govern- 
ment? Have  not  the  men  selected  for  office 
been  men  of  good  reputation  who  by  their  past 
lives  had  given  evidence  that  they  were  honest 
and  competent?  Can  any  private  business  be 
pointed  out  in  which  lapses  from  honesty  have 
been  so  few  and  so  trifling,  proportionately,  as 
in  the  public  service  of  the  United  States?  And 
when  they  have  occurred,  have  not  the  off'end- 
ers  been  relentlessly  prosecuted  and  sternly 

44 


ELIHU  BOOT 

punished,  without  regard  to  political  or  per- 
sonal relations  ? 

Have  we  not  had  an  effective  government? 
Have  not  the  laws  been  enforced?  Has  not 
the  slow  process  of  legislative  discussion  upon 
many  serious  questions  been  brought  to  prac- 
tical conclusions  embodied  in  beneficial  stat- 
utes? and  has  not  the  Executive  proceeded 
without  vacillation  or  weakness  to  give  these 
effect.  Are  not  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
obeyed  at  home?  and  does  not  our  government 
command  respect  and  honor  throughout  the 
world? 

Have  we  not  had  a  safe  and  conservative 
government?  Has  not  property  been  pro- 
tected? Are  not  the  fruits  of  enterprise  and 
industry  secure  ?  What  safeguard  of  the  Con- 
stitution for  vested  right  or  individual  freedom 
has  not  been  scrupulously  observed?  When  has 
any  American  administration  ever  dealt  more 
considerately  and  wisely  with  questions  which 
might  have  been  the  cause  of  conflict  with  for- 
eign powers?  When  have  more  just  settle- 
ments been  reached  by  peaceful  means  ?  When 
has  any  administration  wielded  a  more  power- 
ful influence  for  peace?  and  when  have  we 
rested  more  secure  in  friendship  with  all  man- 
kind? 

45 


ELIHU  ROOT 

Four  years  ago  the  business  of  the  country 
was  loaded  with  burdensome  internal  taxes,  im- 
posed during  the  war  with  Spain.  By  the  acts 
of  March  2,  1901,  and  April  12,  1902,  the 
country  has  been  wholly  relieved  of  that  annual 
burden  of  over  $100,000,000,  and  the  further 
accumulation  of  a  surplus  which  was  constantly 
withdrawing  the  money  of  the  country  from 
circulation  has  been  prevented  by  the  reduction 
of  taxation. 

Between  the  30th  of  June,  1900,  and  the  1st 
of  June,  1904,  our  Treasury  Department  col- 
lected in  revenues  the  enormous  sum  of  $2,203,- 
000,000  and  expended  $2,028,000,000,  leaving 
us  with  a  surplus  of  over  $170,000,000  after 
paying  the  $50,000,000  for  the  Panama  Canal 
and  loaning  $4,600,000  to  the  St.  Louis  Exposi- 
tion. Excluding  those  two  extraordinary  pay- 
ments, M^hich  are  investments  from  past  sur- 
plus and  not  expenditures  of  current  income, 
the  surplus  for  this  year  will  be  the  reasonable 
amount  of  about  $12,000,000. 

The  vast  and  complicated  transactions  of  the 
Treasuiy,  which  for  the  last  fiscal  year  show 
actual  cash  receipts  of  $4,250,290,262  and  dis- 
bursements of  $4,113,199,414,  have  been  con- 
ducted with  perfect  accuracy  and  fidelity  and 
without  the  loss  of  a  dollar.     Under  wise  man- 

46 


ELIHU  ROOT 

agement  the  financial  act  of  March  14,  1900, 
which  embodied  the  sound  financial  principles 
of  the  Republican  party  and  provided  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  currency  on  the  stable  basis 
of  the  gold  standard,  has  wrought  out  benefi- 
cent results.  On  the  1st  of  November,  1899, 
the  interest  bearing  debt  of  the  United  States 
was  $1,046,049,020.  On  the  1st  of  May  last 
the  amount  of  that  debt  was  $895,157,440,  a 
reduction  of  $150,891,580.  By  refunding,  the 
annual  interest  has  been  still  more  rapidly  re- 
duced from  $40,347,884  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber, 1899,  to  $24,176,745  on  the  1st  of  June, 
1904,  an  annual  saving  of  over  $16,000,000. 
When  the  financial  act  was  passed  the  thinly 
settled  portions  of  our  country  were  suffering 
for  lack  of  banking  facilities  because  the  banks 
were  in  the  large  towns,  and  none  could  be  orga- 
nized with  a  capital  of  less  than  $50,000.  Under 
the  provisions  of  that  act  there  were  organized 
down  to  the  1st  of  May  last  1,296  small  banks 
of  $25,000  capital,  furnishing,  under  all  the 
safeguards  of  the  national  banking  system,  fa- 
cilities to  the  small  communities  of  the  West 
and  South.  The  facilities  made  possible  by 
that  act  have  increased  the  circulation  of  na- 
tional banks  from  $254,402,730  on  the  14th  of 
March,  1900,  to  $445,988,565  on  the  1st  of 

47 


ELIHU  ROOT 

June,  1904.  The  money  of  the  country  in  cir- 
culation has  not  only  increased  in  amount  with 
our  growth  in  business,  but  it  has  steadily 
gained  in  the  stability  of  the  basis  on  which  it 
rests.  On  the  1st  of  March,  1897,  when  the 
first  administration  of  McKinley  began,  we 
had  in  the  country,  including  bullion  in  the 
Treasury,  $1,806,272,076.  This  was  $23.14 
per  capita  for  our  population,  and  of  this 
38.893  per  cent,  was  gold.  On  the  1st  of 
March,  1901,  when  the  second  administration 
of  McKinley  began,  the  money  in  the  country 
was  $2,467,295,228.  This  was  $28.34  per  cap- 
ita, and  of  this  45.273  per  cent,  was  gold.  On 
the  1st  of  May  last  the  money  in  the  country 
was  $2,814,985,446,  which  was  $31.02  per  cap- 
ita, and  of  it  48.028  per  cent,  was  gold.  This 
great  increase  of  currency  has  been  arranged 
in  such  a  way  that  the  large  government  notes 
in  circulation  are  gold  certificates,  while  the 
silver  certificates  and  greenbacks  are  of  small 
denominations.  As  the  large  gold  certificates 
represent  gold  actually  on  deposit,  their  presen- 
tation at  the  Treasury  in  exchange  for  gold 
can  never  infringe  upon  the  gold  reserve.  As 
the  small  silver  certificates  and  greenbacks  are 
always  in  active  circulation,  no  large  amount 
of  them  can  be  accumulated  for  the  purpose  of 

48 


ELIHU  ROOT 

drawing  on  the  gold  reserve;  and  thus,  while 
every  man  can  get  a  gold  dollar  for  every  dollar 
of  the  government's  currency,  the  endless  chain 
which  we  were  once  taught  to  fear  so  much  has 
been  effectively  put  out  of  business.  The  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  has  shown  himself  mind- 
ful of  the  needs  of  business,  and  has  so  man- 
aged our  finances  as  himself  to  expand  and 
contract  our  currency  as  occasion  has  required. 
When  in  the  fall  of  1902  the  demand  for  funds 
to  move  the  crops  caused  extraordinary  money 
stringency,  the  Secretary  exercised  his  lawful 
right  to  accept  State  and  municipal  bonds  as 
security  for  public  deposits,  thus  liberating 
United  States  bonds,  which  were  used  for  ad- 
ditional circulation.  When  the  crops  were 
moved  and  the  stringency  was  over  he  called  for 
a  withdrawal  of  the  State  and  municipal  se- 
curities, and  thus  contracted  the  currency. 
Again,  in  1903,  under  similar  conditions  he 
produced  similar  results.  The  payment  of  the 
$50,000,000  for  the  Panama  Canal,  made  last 
month  without  causing  the  slightest  disturb- 
ance in  finance,  showed  good  judgment  and  a 
careful  consideration  of  the  interests  of  busi- 
ness upon  which  our  people  may  confidently 
rely. 

Four  yearw<5  ago  the  regulation  by  law  of  the 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

great  corporate  combinations  called  "trusts" 
stood  substantially  where  it  was  when  the  Sher- 
man Anti-Trust  act  of  1890  was  passed.  Pres- 
ident Cleveland  in  his  last  message  of  Decem- 
ber, 1896,  had  said: 

"Though  Congress  has  attempted  to  deal 
with  this  matter  by  legislation,  the  laws  passed 
for  that  purpose  thus  far  have  proved  ineffec- 
tive, not  because  of  any  lack  of  disposition  or 
attempt  to  enforce  them,  but  simply  because 
the  laws  themselves  as  interpreted  by  the  courts 
do  not  reach  the  difficulty.  If  the  insufficien- 
cies of  existing  laws  can  be  remedied  by  fur- 
ther legislation,  it  should  be  done.  The  fact 
must  be  recognized,  however,  that  all  federal 
legislation  on  this  subject  may  fall  short  of  its 
purpose  because  of  inherent  obstacles,  and  also 
because  of  the  complex  character  of  our  gov- 
ernmental system,  which,  while  making  federal 
authority  supreme  within  its  sphere,  has  care- 
fully limited  that  sphere  by  metes  and  bounds 
that  cannot  be  transgressed." 

At  every  election  the  regulation  of  trusts 
had  been  the  football  of  campaign  oratory  and 
the  subject  of  many  insincere  declarations. 

Our  Republican  administration  has  taken  up 
the  subject  in  a  practical,  sensible  way  as  a 
business  rather  than  a  poUtical  question,  saying 

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ELIHU  BOOT 

what  it  really  meant,  and  doing  what  lay  at  its 
hands  to  be  done  to  accomplish  eif  ective  regu- 
lation. The  principles  upon  which  the  govern- 
ment proceeded  were  stated  by  the  President 
in  his  message  of  December,  1902.     He  said : 

"A  fundamental  base  of  civilization  is  the 
inviolability  of  property ;  but  this  is  in  no  wise 
inconsistent  with  the  right  of  society  to  regulate 
the  exercise  of  the  artificial  powers  which  it 
confers  upon  the  owners  of  property,  under 
the  name  of  corporate  franchises,  in  such  a  way 
as  to  prevent  the  misuse  of  these  powers.   .    .    . 

"We  can  do  nothing  of  good  in  the  way  of 
regulating  and  supervising  these  corporations 
until  we  fix  clearly  in  our  minds  that  we  are  not 
attacking  the  corporations,  but  endeavoring 
to  do  away  with  any  evil  in  them.  We  are  not 
hostile  to  them ;  we  are  merely  determined  that 
they  shall  be  so  handled  as  to  subserve  the  pub- 
lic good.  We  draw  the  line  against  miscon- 
duct, not  against  wealth.    .    .    . 

"In  curbing  and  regulating  the  combinations 
of  capital  which  are  or  may  become  injurious 
to  the  public  we  must  be  careful  not  to  stop  the 
great  enterprises  which  have  legitimately  re- 
duced the  cost  of  production,  not  to  abandon 
the  place  which  our  country  has  won  in  the 
leadership    of    the    international    industrial 

51 


ELIHU  ROOT 

world,  not  to  strike  down  wealth,  with  the 
result  of  closing  factories  and  mines,  of  timi- 
ing  the  wage-worker  idle  in  the  streets  and 
leaving  the  farmer  without  a  market  for  what 
he  grows.    .    .    . 

"I  believe  that  monopolies,  unjust  discrim- 
inations, which  prevent  or  cripple  competition, 
fraudulent  over-capitalization  and  other  evils 
in  trust  organizations  and  practices  which  in- 
juriously affect  interstate  trade  can  be  pre- 
vented under  the  power  of  the  Congress  to 
'regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and 
among  the  several  states'  through  regulations 
and  requirements  operating  directly  upon  such 
commerce,  the  instrumentalities  thereof,  and 
those  engaged  therein." 

After  long  consideration  Congress  passed 
three  practical  statutes.  On  the  11th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1903,  an  act  to  expedite  hearings  in  suits 
in  enforcement  of  the  Anti-Trust  act;  on  the 
14th  of  February,  1903,  the  act  creating  a  new 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  with  a 
Bureau  of  Corporations,  having  authority  to 
secure  systematic  information  regarding  the 
organization  and  operation  of  corporations  en- 
gaged in  interstate  commerce,  and  on  the  19th 
of  February,  1903,  an  act  enlarging  the  powers 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  of 

52 


ELIHU  ROOT 

the  courts,  to  deal  with  secret  rebates  in  trans- 
portation charges,  which  are  the  chief  means 
by  which  the  trusts  crush  out  their  smaller  com- 
petitors. 

The  Attorney-General  has  gone  on  in  the 
same  practical  way,  not  to  talk  about  the  trusts, 
but  to  proceed  against  the  trusts  by  law  for 
their  regulation.  In  separate  suits  fourteen  of 
the  great  railroads  of  the  country  have  been  re- 
strained by  injunction  from  giving  illegal  re- 
bates to  the  favored  shippers,  who  by  means  of 
them  were  driving  out  the  smaller  shippers  and 
monopolizing  the  grain  and  meat  business  of 
the  country.  The  beef  trust  was  put  under  in- 
junction. The  officers  of  the  railroads  en- 
gaged in  the  cotton-carrying  pool,  affecting  all 
that  great  industry  of  the  South,  were  indicted 
and  have  abandoned  their  combination.  The 
Northern  Securities  Company,  which  under- 
took by  combining  in  one  ownership  the  capital 
stocks  of  the  Northern  Pacific  and  the  Great 
Northern  Railroads  to  end  traffic  competition 
in  the  Northwest,  has  been  destroyed  by  a  vig- 
orous prosecution  expedited  and  brought  to  a 
speedy  and  effective  conclusion  in  the  Supreme 
Court  under  the  act  of  February  11,  1903. 
The  Attorney-General  says : 

"Here,  then,  are  four  phases  of  the  attack 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

on  the  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  and 
commerce — the  railroad  injunction  suits,  the 
cotton  pool  cases,  the  beef  trust  cases,  and  the 
Northern  Securities  case.  The  first  relates  to 
the  monopoly  produced  by  secret  and  preferen- 
tial rates  for  railroad  transportation;  the  sec- 
ond to  railroad  traffic  pooling;  the  third  to  a 
combination  of  independent  corporations  to  fix 
and  maintain  extortionate  prices  for  meats,  and 
the  fourth  to  a  corporation  organized  to  merge 
into  itself  the  control  of  parallel  and  competing 
lines  of  railroad  and  to  eliminate  competition  in 
their  rates  of  transportation." 

The  right  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission to  compel  the  production  of  books  and 
papers  has  been  established  by  the  judgment  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  a  suit  against  the  coal 
carrying  roads.  Other  suits  have  been  brought 
and  other  indictments  have  been  found  and 
other  trusts  have  been  driven  back  within  legal 
bounds.  No  investment  in  lawful  business  has 
been  jeopardized,  no  fair  and  honest  enterprise 
has  been  injured;  but  it  is  certain  that  wherever 
the  constitutional  power  of  the  national  govern- 
ment reaches,  trusts  are  being  practically  regu- 
lated and  curbed  within  lawful  bounds  as  they 
never  have  been  before,  and  the  men  of  small 
capital  are  finding  in  the  efficiency  and  skill  of 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

the  national  Department  of  Justice  a  protec- 
tion they  never  had  before  against  the  crush- 
ing effect  of  unlawful  combinations. 

We  have  at  last  reached  a  point  where  the 
public  wealth  of  farm  land,  which  has  seemed 
so  inexhaustible,  is  nearly  gone,  and  the  prob- 
lem of  utiHzing  the  remainder  for  the  building 
of  new  homes  has  become  of  vital  importance. 

The  present  administration  has  dealt  with 
this  problem  vigorously  and  effectively.  Great 
areas  had  been  unlawfully  fenced  in  by  men  of 
large  means,  and  the  home  builder  had  been 
excluded.  Many  of  these  unlawful  aggressors 
have  been  compelled  to  relinquish  their  booty, 
and  more  than  2,000,000  acres  of  land  have 
been  restored  to  the  public.  Extensive  frauds 
in  procuring  grants  of  land,  not  for  home- 
steads, but  for  speculation,  have  been  investi- 
gated and  stopped,  and  the  perpetrators  have 
been  indicted  and  are  being  actively  prosecuted. 
A  competent  commission  has  been  constituted 
to  examine  into  the  defective  working  of  the 
existing  laws  and  to  suggest  practical  legisla- 
tion to  prevent  further  abuse.  That  commis- 
sion has  reported,  and  bills  adequate  to  accom- 
plish the  purpose  have  been  framed  and  are 
before  Congress.  The  further  denudation  of 
forest  areas,  producing  alternate  floods  and 

55 


ELIHU  BOOT 

drjTiess  in  our  river  valleys,  has  been  checked 
by  the  extension  of  forest  reserves,  which  have 
been  brought  to  aggregate  more  than  63,000,- 
000  acres  of  land.  The  reclamation  by  irriga- 
tion of  the  vast  arid  regions  forming  the  chief 
part  of  our  remaining  pubHc  domain,  has  been 
provided  for  by  the  national  Reclamation  law 
of  June  17,  1903.  The  execution  of  this  law, 
without  taxation  and  by  the  application  of  the 
proceeds  of  public  land  sales  alone,  through 
the  construction  of  storage  reservoirs  for  water, 
will  make  many  milHons  of  acres  of  fertile 
lands  available  for  settlement.  Over  $20,000,- 
000  from  these  sources  has  been  already  re- 
ceived to  the  credit  of  the  reclamation  fund. 
Over  33,000,000  acres  of  public  lands  in  four- 
teen states  and  territories  have  been  embraced 
in  the  sixty-seven  projects  which  have  been 
devised  and  are  under  examination,  and  on 
eight  of  these  the  work  of  actual  construction 
has  begun. 

The  postal  service  has  been  extended  and 
improved.  Its  revenues  have  increased  from 
$76,000,000  in  1895  to  $95,000,000  in  1899  and 
$144,000,000  in  1904.  In  dealing  with  these 
vast  sums,  a  few  cases  of  peculation,  trifling  in 
amount  and  by  subordinate  officers,  have  oc- 
curred there  as  they  occur  in  every  business. 

56 


ELIHU  ROOT 

Neither  fear  nor  favor,  nor  political  or  personal 
influence,  has  availed  to  protect  the  wrong- 
doers. Their  acts  have  been  detected,  inves- 
tigated, laid  bare;  they  have  been  dismissed 
from  their  places,  prosecuted  criminally,  in- 
dicted, many  of  them  tried,  and  many  of  them 
convicted.  The  abuses  in  the  carriage  of  sec- 
ond-class mail  matter  have  been  remedied.  The 
rural  free  delivery  has  been  widely  extended. 
It  is  wholly  the  creation  of  Republican  admin- 
istration. The  last  Democratic  Postmaster- 
General  declared  it  impracticable.  The  first 
administration  of  McKinley  proved  the  con- 
trary. At  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal  year 
1899  there  were  about  200  routes  in  operation. 
There  are  now  more  than  25,000  routes,  bring- 
ing a  daily  mail  service  to  more  than  12,000,000 
of  oiu*  people  in  rural  communities,  enlarging 
the  circulation  of  the  newspaper  and  the  maga- 
zine, increasing  communication,  and  relieving 
the  isolation  of  life  on  the  farm. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  been 
brought  to  a  point  of  efficiency  and  practical 
benefit  never  before  known.  The  Oleomargar- 
ine act  of  May  9,  1902,  now  sustained  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  act  of  July  1, 1902,  to 
prevent  the  false  branding  of  food  and  dairy 
products,  protect  farmers  against  fraudulent 

57 


ELIHU  EOOT 

imitations.  The  act  of  February  2,  1903,  en- 
ables the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  to  prevent 
the  spread  of  contagious  and  infectious  dis- 
eases of  live-stock.  Rigid  inspection  has  pro- 
tected our  cattle  against  infection  from  abroad, 
and  has  established  the  highest  credit  for  our 
meat  products  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  earth  has  been  searched  for  weapons  with 
which  to  fight  the  enemies  that  destroy  the 
growing  crops.  An  insect  brought  from  near 
the  Great  Wall  of  China  has  checked  the  San 
Jose  scale,  which  was  destroying  our  orchards ; 
a  parasitic  fly  brought  from  South  Africa  is 
exterminating  the  black  scale  in  the  lemon  and 
orange  groves  of  California;  and  an  ant  from 
Guatemala  is  about  offering  battle  to  the  boll 
weevil.  Broad  science  has  been  brought  to  the 
aid  of  limited  experience.  Study  of  the  rela- 
tions between  plant  life  and  climate  and  soil 
has  been  followed  by  the  introduction  of  special 
crops  suited  to  our  varied  conditions.  The  in- 
troduction of  just  the  right  kind  of  seed  has 
enabled  the  Gulf  States  to  increase  our  rice 
crop  from  115,000,000  pounds  in  1898  to  400,- 
000,000  in  1903,  and  to  supply  the  entire  Amer- 
ican demand,  with  a  surplus  for  export.  The 
right  kind  of  sugar  beet  has  increased  our  an- 
nual production  of  beet  sugar  by  over  200,000 

58 


ELIHU  ROOT 

tons.  Seed  brought  from  countries  of  little 
rainfall  is  producing  millions  of  bushels  of 
grain  on  lands  which  a  few  years  ago  were 
deemed  a  hopeless  part  of  the  arid  belt. 

The  systematic  collection  and  publication  of 
information  regarding  the  magnitude  and  con- 
ditions of  our  crops  is  mitigating  the  injury 
done  by  speculation  to  the  farmer's  market. 

To  increase  the  profit  of  the  farmer's  toil,  to 
protect  the  farmer's  product  and  extend  his 
market  and  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the 
farmer's  life ;  to  advance  the  time  when  Amer- 
ica shall  raise  within  her  own  limits  every  prod- 
uct of  the  soil  consumed  by  her  people,  as  she 
makes  within  her  own  limits  every  necessary 
product  of  manufacture — these  have  been  car- 
dinal objects  of  Republican  administration; 
and  we  show  a  record  of  practical  things  done 
toward  the  accomplishment  of  these  objects 
never  before  approached. 

Four  years  ago  we  held  the  island  of  Cuba  by 
military  occupation.  The  opposition  charged, 
and  the  people  of  Cuba  believed,  that  we  did 
not  intend  to  keep  the  pledge  of  April  20, 1898, 
that  when  the  pacification  of  Cuba  was  accom- 
plished we  should  leave  the  government  and 
control  of  the  island  to  its  people.  The  new 
policy  toward  Cuba  which  should  follow  the 

59 


ELIHU  ROOT 

fulfilment  of  that  pledge  was  unformed.  Dur- 
ing the  four  years  it  has  been  worked  out  in 
detail  and  has  received  effect.  It  was  commu- 
nicated by  executive  order  to  the  Military  Gov- 
ernor. It  was  embodied  in  the  act  of  Congress 
known  as  the  Piatt  amendment.  It  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Cuban  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion on  the  12th  of  October,  1901.  It  secured 
to  Cuba  her  liberty  and  her  independence,  but 
it  required  her  to  maintain  them.  It  forbade 
her  ever  to  use  the  freedom  we  had  earned  for 
her  by  so  great  a  sacrifice  of  blood  and  treasure 
to  give  the  island  to  any  other  power;  it  re- 
quired her  to  maintain  a  government  adequate 
for  the  protection  of  hfe  and  property  and 
liberty,  and,  should  she  fail,  it  gave  us  the  right 
to  intervene  for  the  maintenance  of  such  a  gov- 
ernment ;  and  it  gave  us  the  right  to  naval  sta- 
tions on  her  coast,  for  the  protection  and  de- 
fence alike  of  Cuba  and  the  United  States. 

On  May  20, 1902,  under  a  constitution  which 
embodied  these  stipulations,  the  government 
and  control  of  Cuba  were  surrendered  to  the 
President  and  Congress  elected  by  her  people, 
and  the  American  army  sailed  away.  The 
new  republic  began  its  existence  with  an  ad- 
ministration of  Cubans  completely  organized 
in  all  its  branches  and  trained  to  effective  ser- 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

vice  by  American  officers.  The  administration 
of  President  Palma  has  been  wise  and  efficient. 
Peace  and  order  have  prevailed.  The  people  of 
Cuba  are  prosperous  and  happy.  Her  finances 
have  been  honestly  administered  and  her  credit 
is  high.  The  naval  stations  have  been  located 
and  bounded  at  Guantanamo  and  Bahia  Honda 
and  are  in  the  possession  of  our  navy.  The 
Piatt  amendment  is  the  sheet-anchor  of  Cuban 
independence  and  of  Cuban  credit.  No  such 
revolutions  as  have  affiicted  Central  and  South 
America  are  possible  there,  because  it  is  known 
to  all  men  that  an  attempt  to  overturn  the  foun- 
dations of  that  government  will  be  confronted 
by  the  overwhelming  power  of  the  United 
States.  The  treaty  of  reciprocity  and  the  act 
of  Congress  of  December  6,  1903,  which  con- 
firmed it,  completed  the  expression  of  our  pol- 
icy toward  Cuba,  which,  with  a  far  view  to  the 
future,  aims  to  bind  to  us  by  ties  of  benefit  and 
protection,  of  mutual  interest  and  genuine 
friendship,  that  island  which  guards  the  Carib- 
bean and  the  highway  to  the  isthmus,  and  must 
always  be,  if  hostile,  an  outpost  of  attack,  and, 
if  friendly,  an  outpost  of  defence  for  the 
United  States.  Rich  as  we  are,  the  American 
people  have  no  more  valuable  possession  than 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

the  sentiment  expressed  in  the  dispatch  which 
I  will  now  read : 

"Havana,  May  20, 1902. 
"Theodore  Roosevelt,  President, 
"Washington. 
"The  government  of  the  island  having  been 
just  transferred,  I,  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
Republic,  faithfully  interpreting  the  sentiment 
of  the  whole  people  of  Cuba,  have  the  honor  to 
send  you  and  the  American  people  testimony 
of  our  profound  gratitude  and  the  assurance  of 
an  enduring  friendship,  with  wishes  and  pray- 
ers to  the  Almighty  for  the  welfare  and  pros- 
perity of  the  United  States. 

"T.  Estrada  Palma." 

When  the  last  national  convention  met  the 
Philippines  also  were  under  military  rule.  The 
insurrectos  from  the  mountains  spread  terror 
among  the  peaceful  people  by  midnight  foray 
and  secret  assassination.  Aguinaldo  bided  his 
time  in  a  secret  retreat.  Over  seventy  thou- 
sand American  soldiers  from  more  than  five 
hundred  stations  held  a  still  vigorous  enemy  in 
check.  The  Philippine  Commission  had  not 
yet  begun  its  work.     - 

The  last  vestige  of  insurrection  has  been 
«wept  away.     With  their  work  accomplished, 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

over  55,000  American  troops  have  been  brought 
back  across  the  Pacific.  Civil  government  has 
been  established  throughout  the  archipelago. 
Peace  and  order  and  justice  prevail.  The  Phil- 
lippine  Commission,  guided  at  first  by  execu- 
tive order  and  then  by  the  wise  legislation  of 
Congress  in  the  Philippine  Government  act  of 
July  1,  1902,  have  established  and  conducted  a 
government  which  has  been  a  credit  to  their 
country  and  a  blessing  to  the  people  of  the 
islands.  The  body  of  laws  which  they  have  en- 
acted upon  careful  and  intelligent  study  of  the 
needs  of  the  country  challenges  comparison 
with  the  statutes  of  any  country.  The  personnel 
of  civil  government  has  been  brought  together 
under  an  advanced  and  comprehensive  civil  ser- 
vice law,  which  has  been  rigidly  enforced.  A 
complete  census  has  been  taken,  designed  to  be 
there,  as  it  was  in  Cuba,  the  basis  for  repre- 
sentative government;  and  the  people  of  the 
islands  will  soon  proceed,  under  provisions  al- 
ready made  by  Congress,  to  the  election  of  a 
representative  assembly,  in  which  for  the  first 
time  in  their  history  they  may  have  a  voice  in 
the  making  of  their  own  laws.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  local  and  provincial  governments  are 
in  the  hands  of  officers  elected  by  the  Filipinos ; 
and  in  the  great  central  offices,  in  the  commis- 

63 


fiLIHU  EOOT 

sion,  on  the  bench,  in  the  executive  depart- 
ments, the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  FiH- 
pino  race  are  taking  their  part  in  the  govern- 
ment of  their  people.  A  free  school  system 
has  been  established,  and  himdreds  of  thou- 
sands of  children  are  learning  lessons  which 
will  help  fit  them  for  self-government.  The 
seeds  of  religious  strife  existing  in  the  bitter 
controversy  between  the  people  and  the  re- 
ligious orders  have  been  deprived  of  potency 
for  harm  by  the  purchase  of  the  friars'  lands 
and  their  practical  withdrawal.  By  the  act  of 
Congress  of  March  2,  1903,  a  gold  standard 
has  been  established  to  take  the  place  of  the 
fluctuating  silver  currency.  The  unit  of  value 
is  made  exactly  one-half  the  value  of  the  Amer- 
ican gold  dollar,  so  that  American  money  is 
practically  part  of  their  currency  system.  To 
enable  the  Philippine  government  to  issue  this 
new  currency,  $6,000,000  was  borrowed  by  it 
in  1903  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  it  was 
borrowed  at  a  net  interest  charge  of  If  per 
cent,  per  annum.  The  trade  of  the  islands  has 
increased  notwithstanding  adverse  conditions. 
During  the  last  five  years  of  peace  under  Span- 
ish rule,  the  average  total  trade  of  the  islands 
was  less  than  $36,000,000.  During  the  fiscal 
year  ending  Jime  30,  1903,  the  trade  of  the 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

islands  was  over  $66,000,000.  There  is  but 
one  point  of  disturbance,  and  that  is  in  the 
country  of  the  Mahometan  Moros,  where  there 
is  an  occasional  fitful  savage  outbreak  against 
the  enforcement  of  the  law  recently  made  to 
provide  for  adequate  supervision  and  control 
to  put  an  end  to  the  practice  of  human  slavery. 
When  Governor  Taft  sailed  from  Manila  in 
December  last  to  fill  the  higher  office  where 
he  will  still  guard  the  destinies  of  the  people 
for  whom  he  has  done  such  great  and  noble 
service  he  was  followed  to  the  shore  by  a  mighty 
throng,  not  of  repressed  and  sullen  subjects, 
but  of  free  and  peaceful  people,  whose  tears 
and  prayers  of  affectionate  farewell  showed 
that  they  had  already  begun  to  learn  that  "our 
flag  has  not  lost  its  gift  of  benediction  in  its 
world-wide  journey  to  their  shores." 

None  can  foretell  the  future;  but  there 
seems  no  reasonable  cause  to  doubt  that,  under 
the  policy  already  effectively  inaugurated,  the 
institutions  already  implanted,  and  the  pro- 
cesses already  begun,  in  the  Philippine  Islands, 
if  these  be  not  repressed  and  interrupted,  the 
Philippine  people  will  follow  in  the  footsteps 
of  the  people  of  Cuba;  that  more  slowly,  in- 
deed, because  they  are  not  as  advanced,  yet  as 
surely,  they  will  grow  in  capacity  for  self -gov- 

65 


ELIHU  ROOT 

ernment,  and  receiving  power  as  they  grow  in 
capacity,  will  come  to  bear  substantially  such 
relations  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
as  do  now  the  people  of  Cuba,  differing  in  de- 
tails as  conditions  and  needs  differ,  but  the 
same  in  principle  and  the  same  in  beneficent 
results. 

In  1900  the  project  of  an  isthmian  canal 
stood  where  it  was  left  by  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty  of  1850.  For  half  a  century  it  had 
halted,  with  Great  Britain  resting  upon  a  joint 
right  of  control,  and  the  great  undertaking  of 
de  Lesseps  struggling  against  the  doom  of  fail- 
ure imposed  by  extravagance  and  corruption. 
On  the  18th  of  November,  1901,  the  Hay- 
Pauncef  ote  Treaty  with  Great  Britain  relieved 
the  enterprise  of  the  right  of  British  control, 
and  left  that  right  exclusively  in  the  United 
States.  Then  followed  swiftly  the  negotia- 
tions and  protocols  with  Nicaragua;  the  Isth- 
mian Canal  act  of  June  28,  1902;  the  just 
agreement  with  the  French  Canal  Company  to 
pay  them  the  value  of  the  work  they  had  done ; 
the  negotiation  and  ratification  of  the  treaty 
with  Colombia;  the  rejection  of  that  treaty  by 
Colombia,  in  violation  of  our  rights  and  the 
world's  right  to  the  passage  of  the  isthmus; 
the  seizure  by  Panama  of  the  opportunity  to 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

renew  her  oft-repeated  effort  to  throw  off  the 
hateful  and  oppressive  yoke  of  Colombia  and 
resume  the  independence  which  once  had  been 
hers,  and  of  which  she  had  been  deprived  by- 
fraud  and  force ;  the  success  of  the  revolution ; 
our  recognition  of  the  new  republic,  followed 
by  recognition  from  substantially  all  the  civ- 
ilized powers  of  the  world;  the  treaty  with 
Panama  recognizing  and  confirming  our  right 
to  construct  the  canal;  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  by  the  Senate;  confirmatory  legislation 
by  Congress;  the  payment  of  the  $50,000,- 
000  to  the  French  company  and  to  Panama; 
the  appointment  of  the  Canal  Commission  in 
accordance  with  law,  and  its  organization  to 
begin  the  work. 

The  action  of  the  United  States  at  every  step 
has  been  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  nations, 
consistent  with  the  principles  of  justice  and 
honor,  in  discharge  of  the  trust  to  build  the 
canal  we  long  since  assumed,  by  denying  the 
right  of  every  other  power  to  build  it,  dictated 
by  a  high  and  unselfish  purpose,  for  the  com- 
mon benefit  of  all  mankind.  That  action  was 
wise,  considerate,  prompt,  vigorous  and  effec- 
tive; and  now  the  greatest  of  constructive  na- 
tions stands  ready  and  competent  to  begin  and 
to  accomplish  the  great  enterprise  which  shall 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

realize  the  dreams  of  past  ages,  bind  together 
our  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  and  open  a  new 
highway  for  that  commerce  of  the  Orient  whose 
course  has  controlled  the  rise  and  fall  of  civ- 
ilizations. Success  in  that  enterprise  greatly 
concerns  the  credit  and  honor  of  the  American 
people,  and  it  is  for  them  to  say  whether  the 
building  of  the  canal  shall  be  in  charge  of  the 
men  who  made  its  building  possible,  or  of  the 
weaklings  whose  incredulous  objections  would 
have  postponed  it  for  another  generation. 

Throughout  the  world  the  diplomacy  of  the 
present  administration  has  made  for  peace  and 
justice  among  nations.  Clear-sighted  to  per- 
ceive and  prompt  to  maintain  American  inter- 
ests, it  has  been  sagacious  and  simple  and  direct 
in  its  methods,  and  considerate  of  the  rights 
and  of  the  feelings  of  others. 

Within  the  month  after  the  last  national 
convention  met  Secretary  Hay's  circular  note 
of  July  3,  1900,  to  the  great  powers  of  Europe 
had  declared  the  policy  of  the  United  States : 

"To  seek  a  solution  which  may  bring  about 
permanent  safety  and  peace  to  China,  preserve 
China's  territorial  and  administrative  entity, 
protect  all  rights  guaranteed  to  friendly  pow- 
ers by  treaty  and  international  law,  and  safe- 
guard for  the  world  the  principle  of  equal  and 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

impartial  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  Chinese 
Empire." 

The  express  adherence  of  the  powers  of  Eu- 
rope to  this  declaration  was  secured.  The  open 
recognition  of  the  rule  of  right  conduct  im- 
posed its  limitations  upon  the  conduct  of  the 
powers  in  the  Orient.  It  was  made  the  test 
of  defensible  action.  Carefully  guarded  by 
the  wise  statesmen  who  had  secured  its  accept- 
ance, it  brought  a  moral  force  of  recognized 
value  to  protect  peaceful  and  helpless  China 
from  dismemberment  and  spoliation,  and  to 
preserve  the  open  door  in  the  Orient  for  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  efi*ective  friendship,  a  new  commercial 
treaty  with  China,  proclaimed  on  the  8th  of 
October  last,  has  enlarged  our  opportunities 
for  trade,  opened  new  ports  to  om*  commerce, 
and  abolished  internal  duties  on  goods  in  transit 
within  the  empire.  There  were  indeed  other 
nations  which  agreed  with  this  policy  of  Amer- 
ican diplomacy,  but  no  other  nation  was  free 
from  suspicion  of  selfish  aims.  None  other  had 
won  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  its  purpose, 
and  none  other  but  America  could  render  the 
service  which  we  have  rendered  to  humanity  in 
China  during  the  past  four  years.  High  evi- 
dence of  that  enviable  position  of  our  country 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  when  all  Europe 
was  in  apprehension  lest  the  field  of  war  be- 
tween Russia  and  Japan  should  so  spread 
as  to  involve  China's  ruin  and  a  universal  con- 
flict, it  was  to  the  American  government  that 
the  able  and  far-sighted  German  Emperor  ap- 
pealed, to  take  the  lead  again  in  bringing  about 
an  agreement  for  the  limitation  of  the  field  of 
action,  and  the  preservation  of  the  adminis- 
trative entity  of  China  outside  of  Manchuria; 
and  that  was  accomplished. 

Upon  our  own  continent  a  dispute  with  Can- 
ada over  the  boundary  of  Alaska  had  been 
growing  more  acute  for  thirty  years.  A  multi- 
tude of  miners  swift  to  defend  their  own  rights 
by  force  were  locating  mining  claims  under 
the  laws  of  both  countries  in  the  disputed  terri- 
tory. At  any  moment  a  fatal  affray  between 
Canadian  and  American  miners  was  liable  to 
begin  a  conflict  in  which  all  British  Columbia 
would  be  arrayed  on  one  side  and  all  our 
Northwest  upon  the  other.  Agreement  was 
impossible.  But  the  Alaskan  Boundary  Treaty 
of  January  24,  1903,  provided  a  tribunal  for 
the  decision  of  the  controversy ;  and  upon  legal 
proofs  and  reasoned  argument,  an  appeal  has 
been  had  from  prejudice  and  passion  to  judi- 
cial judgment;  and  under  the  lead  of  a  great 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

Chief  Justice  of  England,  who  held  the  sacred 
obligations  of  his  judicial  office  above  all  other 
considerations,  the  dispute  has  been  settled  for- 
ever and  substantially  in  accordance  with  the 
American  contention. 

In  1900  the  first  administration  of  McKinley 
had  played  a  great  part  in  establishing  the 
Hague  Tribunal  for  International  Arbitration. 
The  prevaiHng  opinion  of  Europe  was  incredu- 
lous as  to  the  practical  utility  of  the  provision, 
and  anticipated  a  paper  tribunal  unsought  by 
litigants.  It  was  the  example  of  the  United 
States  which  set  at  naught  this  opinion.  The 
first  international  case  taken  to  the  Hague 
Tribunal  was  under  our  protocol  with  Mexico 
of  May  22, 1902,  submitting  our  contention  for 
the  rights  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
California  to  a  share  of  the  church  moneys  held 
by  the  Mexican  government  before  the  cession, 
and  known  as  the  Pious  Fund;  and  the  first 
decision  of  the  Tribunal  was  an  award  in  our 
favor  upon  that  question. 

When  in  1903  the  failure  of  Venezuela  to 
pay  her  just  debts  led  England,  Germany  and 
Italy  to  warlike  measures  for  the  collection  of 
their  claims,  an  appeal  by  Venezuela  to  our 
government  resulted  in  agreements  upon  arbi- 
tration in  place  of  the  war,  and  in  a  request 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

that  our  president  should  act  as  arbitrator. 
Again  he  promoted  the  authority  and  prestige 
of  the  Hague  Tribunal,  and  was  able  to  lead  all 
the  powers  to  submit  the  crucial  questions  in 
controversy  to  the  determination  of  that  court. 
It  is  due  greatly  to  support  by  the  American 
government  that  this  agency  for  peace  has  dis- 
appointed the  expectations  of  its  detractors, 
and  by  demonstrations  of  practical  usefulness 
has  begun  a  career  fraught  with  possibilities  of 
incalculable  benefit  to  mankind. 

On  April  11,  1903,  was  proclaimed  another 
convention  between  all  the  great  powers  agree- 
ing upon  more  humane  rules  for  the  conduct  of 
war,  and  these  in  substance  incorporated  and 
gave  the  sanction  of  the  civilized  world  to  the 
rules  drafted  by  Francis  Lieber  and  approved 
by  Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  conduct  of  the 
armies  of  the  United  States  in  the  field. 

All  Americans  who  desire  safe  and  conserva- 
tive administration  which  shall  avoid  cause  of 
quarrel,  all  who  abhor  war,  all  who  long  for  the 
perfect  sway  of  the  principles  of  that  religion 
which  we  all  profess,  should  rejoice  that  under 
this  Republican  administration  their  country 
has  attained  a  potent  leadership  among  the 
nations  in  the  cause  of  peace  and  international 
justice. 


ELIHU  ROOT 

The  respect  and  moral  power  thus  gained 
have  been  exercised  in  the  interests  of  human- 
ity, where  the  rules  of  diplomatic  intercourse 
have  made  formal  intervention  impossible. 
When  the  Roumanian  outrages  and  when  the 
appalling  massacre  at  Kishineff  shocked  civ- 
ilization and  filled  thousands  of  our  own  people 
with  mourning,  the  protest  of  America  was 
heard  through  the  voice  of  its  government,  with 
full  observance  of  diplomatic  rules,  but  with 
moral  power  and  effect. 

We  have  advanced  the  authority  of  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine.  Our  adherence  to  the  convention 
which  established  the  Hague  Tribunal  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  other  powers,  with  a  formal  dec- 
laration that  nothing  therein  contained  should 
be  construed  to  imply  the  relinquishment  by 
the  United  States  of  its  traditional  attitude  to- 
ward purely  American  questions.  The  armed 
demonstration  by  the  European  powers  against 
Venezuela  was  made  the  occasion  for  disclaim- 
ers to  the  United  States  of  any  intention  to 
seize  the  territory  of  Venezuela,  recognizing 
in  the  most  unmistakable  way  the  rights  of  the 
United  States  expressed  in  the  declaration  of 
that  traditional  policy. 

In  the  meantime,  mindful  that  moral  powers 
unsupported  by  physical  strength  do  not  al- 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

ways  avail  against  selfishness  and  aggression, 
we  have  been  augmenting  the  forces  which 
command  respect. 

We  have  brought  our  navy  to  a  high  state  of 
efficiency  and  have  exercised  both  army  and 
navy  in  the  methods  of  seacoast  defence.  The 
joint  army  and  navy  board  has  been  bringing 
the  two  services  together  in  good  understanding 
and  the  common  study  of  the  strategy,  the 
preparation  and  the  co-operation  which  will 
make  them  effective  in  time  of  need.  Our 
ships  have  been  exercised  in  fleet  and  squadron 
movements,  have  been  improved  in  marksman- 
ship and  mobihty,  and  have  been  constantly 
tested  by  use.  Since  the  last  national  conven- 
tion met  we  have  completed  and  added  to  our 
navy  five  battleships,  four  cruisers,  four  mon- 
itors, thirty-four  torpedo  destroyers  and  tor- 
pedo boats,  while  we  have  put  under  construc- 
tion thirteen  battleships  and  thirteen  cruisers. 

Four  years  ago  our  army  numbered  over 
100,000  men — regulars  and  volunteers — 75  per 
cent,  of  them  in  the  Philippines  and  China. 
Under  the  operation  of  statutes  limiting  the 
period  of  service,  it  was  about  to  lapse  back 
into  its  old  and  insufficient  number  of  27,000, 
and  its  old  and  insufficient  organization  under 
the  practical  control  of  permanent  staff  depart- 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

ments  at  Washington,  with  the  same  divisions 
of  counsel  and  lack  of  co-ordinating  and  direct- 
ing power  at  the  head  that  led  to  confusion  and 
scandal  in  the  war  with  Spain.  During  the 
past  four  years  the  lessons  taught  by  that  war 
have  received  practical  effect.  The  teachings 
of  Sherman  and  of  Upton  have  been  recalled 
and  respected.  Congress  has  fixed  a  maximum 
of  the  army  at  100,000  and  a  minimum  at  60,- 
000,  so  that  maintaining  only  the  minimum  in 
peace,  as  we  now  do,  when  war  threatens  the 
President  may  begin  preparations  by  filling  the 
ranks  to  the  maximum,  without  waiting  until 
after  war  has  begun,  as  he  had  to  wait  in  1898. 
Permanent  staff  appointments  have  been 
changed  to  details  from  the  line,  with  compul- 
sory returns  at  fixed  intervals  to  service  with 
troops,  so  that  the  requirements  of  the  field 
and  the  camp  rather  than  the  requirements  of 
the  office  desk  shall  control  the  departments  of 
administration  and  supply.  A  corps  organi- 
zation has  been  provided  for  our  artillery,  with 
a  chief  of  artillery  at  the  head,  so  that  there 
may  be  intelligent  use  of  our  costly  seacoast 
defences.  Under  the  act  of  February  14, 1903, 
a  General  Staff  has  been  established,  organized 
to  suit  American  conditions  and  requirements 
and  adequate  for  the  performance  of  the  long 

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ELIHU  ROOT 

neglected  but  all  important  duties  of  directing 
military  education  and  training,  and  applying 
the  most  advanced  principles  of  military  science 
to  that  necessary  preparation  for  war  which  is 
the  surest  safeguard  of  peace.  The  command 
of  the  army  now  rests  where  it  is  placed  by  the 
Constitution — in  the  President.  His  power  is 
exercised  through  a  military  chief  of  staff, 
pledged  by  the  conditions  and  tenure  of  his 
office  to  confidence  and  loyalty  to  his  com- 
mander. Thus  civilian  control  of  the  military 
arm,  upon  which  we  must  always  insist,  is  rec- 
onciled with  that  military  efficiency  which  can 
be  obtained  only  under  the  direction  of  the 
trained  military  expert. 

Four  years  ago  we  were  living  under  an 
obsolete  militia  law  more  than  a  century  old, 
which  Washington  and  Jefferson  and  Madison, 
and  almost  every  President  since  their  time, 
had  declared  to  be  worthless.  We  presented 
the  curious  spectacle  of  a  people  depending 
upon  a  citizen  soldiery  for  protection  against 
aggression,  and  making  practically  no  provision 
whatever  for  training  its  citizens  in  the  use  of 
warlike  weapons  or  in  the  elementary  duties  of 
the  soldier.  The  mandate  of  the  Constitution 
which  required  Congress  to  provide  for  orga- 
nizing, arming  and  disciphning  the  militia,  had 

76 


ELIHU  ROOT 

been  left  unexecuted.  In  default  of  national 
provisions,  bodies  of  State  troops,  created  for 
local  purposes  and  supported  at  local  expense, 
had  grown  up  throughout  the  Union.  Their 
feelings  toward  the  regular  army  were  rather 
of  distrust  and  dislike  than  of  comradeship. 
Their  arms,  equipment,  discipline,  organiza- 
tion and  methods  of  obtaining  and  accounting 
for  supplies  were  varied  and  inconsistent. 
They  were  unsuited  to  become  a  part  of  any 
homogeneous  force,  and  their  relations  to  the 
army  of  the  United  States  were  undefined  and 
conjectural.  By  the  Militia  act  of  January 
20,  1903,  Congress  performed  its  duty  under 
the  Constitution.  Leaving  these  bodies  still 
to  perform  their  duties  to  the  States,  it  made 
them  the  organized  militia  of  the  United  States. 
It  provided  for  their  conformity  in  armament, 
organization  and  discipline  to  the  army  of  the 
United  States;  it  provided  the  ways  in  which, 
either  strictly  as  militia  or  as  volunteers,  they 
should  become  an  active  part  of  the  army  when 
called  upon;  it  provided  for  their  training,  in- 
struction and  exercise  conjointly  with  the  reg- 
ular army;  it  imposed  upon  the  regular  army 
the  duty  of  promoting  their  efficiency  in  many 
ways.  In  recognition  of  the  service  to  the 
nation  which  these  citizen  soldiers  would  be 

77 


ELIHU  ROOT 

competent  to  render,  the  nation  assumed  its 
share  of  the  burden  of  their  armament,  their 
supply  and  their  training.  The  workings  of 
this  system  have  ah*eady  demonstrated  not  only 
that  we  can  have  citizens  outside  of  the  regular 
army  trained  for  duty  in  war,  but  that  we  can 
have  a  body  of  volunteer  officers  ready  for  serv- 
ice, between  whom  and  the  officers  of  the  reg- 
ular army  have  been  created  by  intimate  asso- 
ciation and  mutual  helpfulness  those  relations 
of  confidence  and  esteem  without  which  no 
army  can  be  effective. 

The  first  administration  of  McKinley  fought 
and  won  the  war  with  Spain,  put  down  the  in- 
surrection in  the  Philippines,  annexed  Hawaii, 
rescued  the  legations  in  Peking,  brought  Porto 
Rico  into  our  commercial  system,  enacted  a  pro- 
tective tariff,  and  established  our  national  cur- 
rency on  the  firm  foundations  of  the  gold  stand- 
ard by  the  financial  legislation  of  the  LVIth 
Congress. 

The  present  administration  has  reduced  tax- 
ation, reduced  the  public  debt,  reduced  the  an- 
nual interest  charge,  made  effective  progress 
in  the  regulation  of  trusts,  fostered  business, 
promoted  agriculture,  built  up  the  navy,  re- 
organized the  army,  resurrected  the  militia  sys- 
tem, inaugurated  a  new  policy  for  the  preser- 

78 


ELIHU  ROOT 

vation  and  reclamation  of  public  lands,  given 
civil  government  to  the  Philippines,  established 
the  republic  of  Cuba,  bound  it  to  us  by  ties  of 
gratitude,  of  commercial  interest  and  common 
defence,  swung  open  the  closed  gateway  of  the 
isthmus,  strengthened  the  Monroe  Doctrine, 
ended  the  Alaskan  boundary  dispute,  protected 
the  integrity  of  China,  opened  wider  its  doors 
of  trade,  advanced  the  principle  of  arbitration, 
and  promoted  peace  among  the  nations. 

We  challenge  judgment  upon  this  record  of 
effective  performance  in  legislation,  in  execu- 
tion and  in  administration. 

The  work  is  not  fully  done;  policies  are  not 
completely  wrought  out;  domestic  questions 
still  press  continually  for  solution ;  other  trusts 
must  be  regulated;  the  tariff  may  presently 
receive  revision,  and,  if  so,  should  receive  it  at 
the  hands  of  the  friends  and  not  the  enemies 
of  the  protective  system;  the  new  Philippine 
government  has  only  begun  to  develop  its  plans 
for  the  benefit  of  that  long  neglected  country ; 
our  flag  floats  on  the  isthmus,  but  the  canal  is 
yet  to  be  built;  peace  does  not  yet  reign  on 
earth,  and  considerate  firmness  backed  by 
strength  is  still  needful  in  diplomacy. 

The  American  people  have  now  to  say 
whether  policies  shall  be  reversed,  or  committed 

79 


ELIHU  ROOT 

to  unfriendly  guardians ;  whether  performance, 
which  now  proves  itself  for  the  benefit  and 
honor  of  our  country,  shall  be  transferred  to 
unknown  and  perchance  to  feeble  hands. 

No  dividing  line  can  be  drawn  athwart  the 
course  of  this  successful  administration.  The 
fatal  14th  of  September,  1901,  marked  no 
change  of  policy,  no  lower  level  of  achieve- 
ment. The  bullet  of  the  assassin  robbed  us  of 
the  friend  we  loved ;  it  took  away  from  the  peo- 
ple the  President  of  their  choice;  it  deprived 
civilization  of  a  potent  force  making  always 
for  righteousness  and  for  humanity.  But  the 
fabric  of  free  institutions  remained  unshaken. 
The  government  of  the  people  went  on.  The 
great  party  that  William  McKinley  led 
wrought  still  in  the  spirit  of  his  example.  His 
true  and  loyal  successor  has  been  equal  to  the 
burden  cast  upon  him.  Widely  different  in 
temperament  and  methods,  he  has  approved 
himself  of  the  same  elemental  virtues — ^the 
same  fundamental  beliefs.  With  faithful  and 
revering  memory  he  has  executed  the  purposes 
and  continued  unbroken  the  policy  of  President 
McKinley  for  the  peace,  prosperity  and  honor 
of  our  beloved  country.  And  he  has  met  all 
new  occasions  with  strength  and  resolution  and 
far-sighted  wisdom. 

80 


ELIHU  ROOT 

As  we  gather  in  this  conveiition  our  hearts 
go  back  to  the  friend,  the  never  to  be  forgotten 
friend  whom,  when  last  we  met,  we  acclaimed 
with  one  accord  as  our  universal  choice  to  bear 
a  second  time  the  highest  honor  in  the  nation's 
gift ;  and  back  still  memory  goes  through  many 
a  year  of  leadership  and  loyalty. 

How  wise  and  how  skilful  he  was!  How 
modest  and  self-effacing!  How  deep  his  in- 
sight into  the  human  heart!  How  swift  the 
intuitions  of  his  sympathy!  How  compelling 
the  charm  of  his  gracious  presence!  He  was 
so  unselfish,  so  thoughtful  of  the  happiness 
of  others,  so  genuine  a  lover  of  his  country  and 
his  kind.  And  he  was  the  kindest  and  tender- 
est  friend  who  ever  grasped  another's  hand. 
Alas !  that  his  virtues  did  plead  in  vain  against 
cruel  fate! 

Yet  we  may  rejoice  that  while  he  lived  he 
was  crowned  with  honor;  that  the  rancor  of 
party  strife  had  ceased ;  that  success  in  his  great 
tasks,  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  approval  of 
his  countrymen,  the  affection  of  his  friends, 
gave  the  last  quiet  months  in  his  home  at  Can- 
ton repose  and  contentment. 

And  with  McKinley  we  remember  Hanna 
with  affection  and  sorrow — his  great  lieuten- 
ant.    They  are  together  again. 

81 


ELIHU  EOOT 

But  we  turn,  as  they  would  have  us  turn,  to 
the  duties  of  the  hour,  the  hopes  of  the  future ; 
we  turn,  as  they  would  have  us  turn,  to  prepare 
ourselves  for  struggle  under  the  same  standard 
borne  in  other  hands  by  right  of  true  inherit- 
ance. Honor,  truth,  courage,  purity  of  life, 
domestic  virtue,  love  of  country,  loyalty  to  high 
ideals — all  these,  combined  with  active  intelli- 
gence, with  learning,  with  experience  in  affairs, 
with  the  conclusive  proof  of  competency  af- 
forded by  wise  and  conservative  administra- 
tion, by  great  things  already  done  and  great 
results  already  achieved — all  these  we  bring  to 
the  people  with  another  candidate.  Shall  not 
these  have  honor  in  our  land?  Truth,  sincerity, 
courage !  These  underlie  the  fabric  of  our  in- 
stitutions. Upon  hypocrisy  and  sham,  upon 
cunning  and  false  pretence,  upon  weakness  and 
cowardice,  upon  the  arts  of  the  demagogue  and 
the  devices  of  the  mere  politician,  no  govern- 
ment can  stand.  No  system  of  popular  gov- 
ernment can  endure  in  which  the  people  do  not 
believe  and  trust.  Our  President  has  taken  the 
whole  people  into  his  confidence.  Incapable  of 
deception,  he  has  put  aside  concealment. 
Frankly  and  without  reserve,  he  has  told  them 
what  their  government  was  doing,  and  the  rea- 
sons.    It  is  no  campaign  of  appearances  upon 

82 


ELIHU  ROOT 

which  we  enter,  for  the  people  know  the  good 
and  the  bad,  the  success  and  failure,  to  be  cred- 
ited and  charged  to  our  account.  It  is  no  cam- 
paign of  sounding  words  and  specious  pre- 
tences, for  our  President  has  told  the  people 
with  frankness  what  he  believed  and  what  he 
intended.  He  has  meant  every  word  he  said, 
and  the  people  have  believed  every  word  he 
said,  and  with  him  this  convention  agrees,  be- 
cause every  word  has  been  sound  Republican 
doctrine.  No  people  can  maintain  free  gov- 
ernment who  do  not  in  their  hearts  value  the 
qualities  which  have  made  the  present  President 
of  the  United  States  conspicuous  among  the 
men  of  his  time  as  a  type  of  noble  manhood. 
Come  what  may  here,  come  what  may  in  No- 
vember, God  grant  that  those  qualities  of  brave, 
true  manhood  shall  have  honor  throughout 
America,  shall  be  held  for  an  example  in  every 
home,  and  that  the  youth  of  generations  to 
come  may  grow  up  to  feel  that  it  is  better  than 
wealth,  or  office,  or  power  to  have  the  honesty, 
the  purity  and  the  courage  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt. 


83 


J"/^ 


Q^^<.^<AAtt^. 


Address  by  Joseph  G.  Cannon ,  of  Illinois, 
Chairman  of  the  Convention. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  For  the  first 
time  in  my  life  I  have  in  black  and  white 
enough  sentences  to  contain  twenty-five  hun- 
dred words  to  say  to  you.  I  have  tried  to  mem- 
orize it  (laughter) ,  but  I  cannot.  I  have  given 
it  out  through  the  usual  channels  to  the  great 
audience,  and  now  I  must  either  beg  to  be  ex- 
cused entirely  or  I  must  do  like  we  do  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  under  the  five-min- 
ute rule,  and  make  a  few  feeble  remarks.  But 
that  no  man  shall  say  I  have  not  made  a  great 
speech,  I  will  set  that  matter  at  rest  by  saying 
that  from  beginning  to  end  I  heartily  endorse 
every  statement  of  fact  and  every  sentiment 
that  was  given  you  yesterday  from  the  tem- 
porary presiding  officer  in  the  greatest  speech 
ever  delivered  at  a  convention.     (Applause.) 

Now  let  me  go  on  and  ramble.  (Laughter. ) 
And,  first,  they  say  that  there  is  no  enthusiasm 
in  this  convention.  Gentlemen,  the  great  river 
that  has  its  thirty  feet  of  water,  rising  in  the 
mountains  and  growing  in  depth  and  breadth 
down  to  the  ocean,  bears  upon  its  bosom  the 

85 


JOSEPH   G.   CANNON 

commerce  of  that  section  of  land  that  it  drains, 
and  bears  it  out  to  the  world.  It  is  a  silent 
river,  and  yet  the  brawling  river  that  is  like  to 
the  River  Platte  out  in  Nebraska.  (That  is 
fourteen  miles  wide  and  four  inches  deep, 
makes  more  noise  than  the  bigger  rivers.) 
(Applause.)  When  we  were  young  folks, 
twenty  years  ago  (laughter),  we  went  to  see 
our  best  girls.  We  were  awfully  enthusiastic 
if  she  would  give  us  a  nod  of  the  head  or  the 
trip  away,  catch-me-if-you-can  (laughter),  to 
enter  upon  the  chase;  that  was  awfully  strenu- 
ous and  awfully  enthusiastic.  (Laughter.) 
But,  when  she  said  "Yes,"  the  good  relations 
were  established,  and  we  went  on  evenly 
throughout  the  balance  of  our  lives.  (Laugh- 
ter and  applause. ) 

It  is  a  contest  that  makes  enthusiasm.  In 
1904,  as  in  1900,  everybody  has  known  for 
twelve  months  past  who  is  to  be  our  standard- 
bearer  in  this  campaign.  (Loud  applause  and 
cheering.)  We  are  here  for  business.  (Laugh- 
ter.) I  wonder  if  our  friends  the  enemy  would 
not  be  glad  of  a  little  of  our  kind  of  enthusiasm. 
(Prolonged  laughter  and  applause.) 

I  might  illustrate  further ;  I  don't  know  that 
it  is  necessary.      I  see  some  of    my  former 

86 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

friends  before  me — my  friend,  Colonel  Low- 
den,  and  various  others.     (Applause.) 

Now,  there  is  not  one  of  you  that  raises 
chickens,  as  I  do,  but  understands  that 
when  the  hen  comes  off  the  nest  with  one 
chicken  she  does  more  scratching  and  makes 
more  noise  than  the  motherly  hen  that  is  for- 
tunate with  twenty-three.  (Laughter.)  Our 
friends,  the  enemy,  will  have  the  enthusiasm; 
we  will  take  the  votes  in  November.  (Ap- 
plause. ) 

To  be  serious  for  a  moment.  The  Republi- 
can party  is  a  government  through  party  and 
through  organization — oh,  you  find  people 
once  in  a  while  who  do  not  want  any  parties. 
As  long  as  you  have  eighty  millions  of  people 
competent  for  self-government  they  will  orga- 
nize and  will  call  the  organization  a  party.  The 
Republican  party,  born  of  the  declaration  that 
slavery  is  sectional  and  freedom  national  (ap- 
plause), achieved  its  first  success  in  1860,  with 
Abraham  Lincoln.     (Applause.) 

Secession,  the  war  for  the  Union — ^you  older 
men  recollect  it  well.  We  have  one  of  the  sur- 
vivors here.  I  was  glad  to  see  the  convention 
give  him  the  courtesies  of  the  convention.  He 
helped  to  make  it  possible  that  we  could  hold 
this  convention.  (Applause.)  Forty-four  years 

87 


JOSEPH   G.   CANNON 

ago  just  about  now — 1904,  what  a  contrast!  A 
divided  country,  a  bankrupt  Treasury,  no 
credit.  The  RepubHcan  party  got  power,  and 
under  its  great  leadership  wrote  revenue  legis- 
lation upon  the  statute  books  and  went  back  to 
the  principles  of  Washington  and  Hamilton, 
and  legislation  that  would  produce  revenue, 
while  duties  upon  imports  were  so  adjusted  as 
to  encourage  every  American  citizen  to  take 
part  in  diversifying  the  industries  and  develop- 
ing the  resources  of  the  country. 

Will  you  bear  with  me  for  five  minutes  while 
I  make  the  comparison  of  then,  upon  the  one 
hand,  with  the  conditions  to-day  ? 

In  1860  we  had  been  substantially  dom- 
inated for  many  years  by  the  free  trade  party, 
insignificant  in  manufactures,  great  in  agricul- 
ture. Under  our  policy,  which  has  been  fol- 
lowed, with  the  exception  of  four  years,  from 
that  time  to  this,  the  United  States  remains 
first  in  agriculture,  but,  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
has  diversified  her  industries,  until  to-day  we 
are  the  greatest  manufacturing  country  on 
God's  footstool.  One-third  of  all  the  world's 
products  that  come  from  the  factory  are  made 
in  the  United  States,  by  the  operation  and  co- 
operation of  American  capital  and  American 
labor  and  skill. 

88 


JOSEPH  G.   CANNON 

Let  me  make  one  other  statement. 

Our  product  every  year  is  greater  than  the 
entire  combined  manufactured  product  of 
Great  Britain,  of  Germany  and  of  France. 
Where  do  we  get  the  market  for  it?  Ninety- 
seven  per  cent,  of  this  great  product — one-third 
of  the  world's  product — finds  a  market  among 
ourselves  in  the  United  States.  And  yet,  of 
this  product,  last  year  we  sold  to  foreign  coun- 
tries— I  am  speaking  now  of  the  manufactured 
product — over  $400,000,000—29  per  cent,  of 
our  total  exports,  and  our  total  exports  made 
and  make  us  the  greatest  exporting  nation  on 
earth.   (Applause;) 

Made  ?  Made  by  labor  ?  Yes,  made  by  labor 
that  works  less  hours  than  any  labor  on  earth. 
Made  by  labor  that,  conservatively  stated,  re- 
ceives $1.75  as  against  the  average  of  the  com- 
petitive labor  in  the  world  of  $1.    (Applause.) 

Oh,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  a  few  rich  men  that 
make  markets;  nay,  nay.  It  is  the  multiplied 
millions  on  the  farm,  in  the  mine,  and  in  fac- 
tory, that  work  to-day  and  consume  to-morrow, 
and,  with  steady  employment  and  good  wages, 
give  us,  with  eighty  millions  of  people,  a  mar- 
ket equal  to  the  two  hundred  millions  of  con- 
suming people  anywhere  else  on  earth.  The 
farmer  buys  the  artisan's  product.  The  artisan, 

89 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

being  employed,  buys  the  farmer's  product. 
The  wheels  go  round.  You  cannot  strike  one 
great  branch  of  labor  in  the  RepubHc  without 
the  blow  reacting  on  all  producers. 

Well,  are  you  satisfied  with  the  comparison 
from  the  manufacturing  standpoint?  If  not, 
let  me  give  you  another  illustration  that  will 
perhaps  go  home  to  the  minds  of  men  more 
quickly  than  the  illustration  I  have  given. 

Take  the  Post-office  Department,  that 
reaches  all  of  the  people,  and  no  man  is  com- 
pelled to  pay  one  penny.  It  is  voluntary  tax- 
ation. For  the  fiscal  year  1860-61,  twelve 
months,  the  total  revenue  of  the  Post-office 
Department  in  all  the  United  States  was 
eight  and  a  half  million  dollars.  Keep  that  in 
your  minds — eight  and  a  half  million  dollars. 
How  much  do  you  suppose  it  cost  to  run  the 
department?  Nineteen  milUons.  It  took  all 
the  revenue  and  as  much  more  and  one-quarter 
as  much  more  from  the  Treasury  to  pay  for 
that  postal  service.  Why,  gentlemen,  the  city 
post-office  of  Chicago  last  year  collected  more 
revenues  by  almost  one  million  of  dollars  than 
was  collected  by  the  whole  department  in  the 
United  States  in  I860.    (Applause.) 

How  is  it  now?  We  have  reduced  postage 
over  one-half  since  1860,  on  the  average.    Last 

90 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNOI^r 

year  the  postal  revenues  were  $134,000,000,  as 
against  $8,500,000  in  1860.  Keep  that  in  your 
mind— $134,000,000.  And  the  whole  service 
cost  only  $138,000,000.  We  had  a  deficit  of 
$4,000,000 — 3  per  cent. — and  we  would  not 
have  had  that  deficit  had  it  not  been  that,  under 
the  lead  of  the  Republican  party,  looking  out 
for  the  welfare  of  all  the  people  and  conduct- 
ing the  government  from  a  business  stand- 
point, under  the  lead  of  McKinley,  followed  by 
Roosevelt,  there  was  established  rural  free  de- 
livery that  cost  $10,000,000.   (Applause. ) 

Great  heavens !  The  Republican  party  from 
1860  until  this  moment  moves  on — does  what 
good  common  sense  dictates,  and  the  country 
grows  to  it.  Well,  now  I  will  drop  that  de- 
partment. 

The  Republican  party  is  a  national  party, 
and  believes  in  diversification  of  our  industries 
and  the  protection  of  American  capital  and 
American  labor  as  against  the  cheaper  labor 
elsewhere  on  earth.   ( Applause. ) 

What  do  the  other  people  believe  in?  For 
sixty  years  from  our  antagonists  went  out  the 
cry  of  free  trade  throughout  the  world,  free 
ships  upon  the  seas.  On  other  questions  a  tariff 
for  revenue  only.  The  free  trade  party  has 
always  denounced  the  Republican  policy  of 

91 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

protection  as  robbery,  and,  whenever  clothed 
with  power,  whate^'er  its  pretences,  it  has  thrust 
a  dagger  into  the  very  heart  of  protection. 

Oh,  well,  aren't  they  going  to  change?  Let 
us  see.  Just  before  the  close  of  the  last  Con- 
gress, New  York's  eloquent  son,  Bourke  Cock- 
ran,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, got  the  floor,  and  he  preached  an  old- 
fashioned  Democratic  sermon,  free  trade  and 
all  that  kind  of  thing,  and  he  did  it  well,  and 
there  came  from  the  minority  side  of  that 
House,  without  exception,  such  cheering  and 
crying  and  hurrahing  and  applauding  as  I 
never  witnessed  before  in  that  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, because  at  last  they  had  the  pure 
Democratic  faith  delivered  to  them. 

They  are  trying  to  do  what?  Trying  to 
convince  the  people  that  they  ought  to  come 
into  power  under  the  lead  of  Gorman,  of  the 
Senate,  and  WilHams,  of  the  House.  They 
have  been  trying  to  give  the  country  Dovers 
powders .    ( Laughter. ) 

"Oh,"  said  the  distinguished  leader  of  the 
minority  in  the  House,  Mr.  Williams,  follow- 
ing the  astute  Senator  Gorman,  "if  we  come 
into  power,  while  protection  is  robbery,  we  will 
say  to  you  that  we  will  journey  in  the  direction 
of  free  trade,  but  we  will  not  destroy  your  in- 

92 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

dustries  overnight."  Great  God!  Think  of 
it!  They  won't  kill  you  outright,  but  they  will 
starve  you  to  death  day  by  day.  (Laughter 
and  applause. )  They  want  to  be  put  on  guard 
to  protect  the  people  who  are  dwelling  in  peace 
and  prosperity  under  a  Republican  policy. 

It  reminds  me  of  the  fable  of  ^sop.  You 
know  he  records  in  one  of  his  fables  that  the 
wolves  said  to  the  sheep,  "Discharge  the  dogs" 
— who  were  their  natural  protectors — "and  em- 
ploy us,  and  we  will  take  care  of  you."  (Laugh- 
ter and  applause.)  Does  the  capital  of  this 
country  and  the  labor  of  this  country  want  to 
go  under  the  care  of  wolf  Gorman  and  wolf 
Williams  and  their  fellows  ?     I  think  not. 

What  a  country  this  is !  And,  Republicans, 
we  have  got  to  outline  the  policy  and  lead  the 
people  in  caring  for  it.  Why,  we  are  like  the 
women — we  not  only  have  to  take  care  of  our- 
selves, but,  more,  as  one  of  our  women  said, 
we  have  to  take  care  of  the  men.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  The  Republican  party  not 
only  has  to  care  for  itself,  but  has  to  care  for 
the  minority  by  a  wise  policy.  How  it  has  been 
doing  it!  We  preserved  the  Union  under  the 
policy  and  leadership  of  this  party.  Do  you 
recollect  that  tlie  opj^osition  part}^  on  a  demand 
for  an  armistice  and  negotiation  and  compro- 

93 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

mise,  nominated  McClellan  in  1864  and  moved 
heaven  and  earth  to  defeat  Lincoln?  Do  you 
recollect  when  the  constitutional  amendments 
were  submitted  they  said  nay,  nay,  and  when, 
after  they  were  adopted,  the  Democrats  came 
into  power  temporarily  in  Indiana  and  Ohio, 
they  passed  acts  taking  back  the  assent  of  the 
States.  When  the  first  battle  was  fought 
against  greenback  or  fiat  money,  back  in  the 
70's,  out  in  the  Middle  West,  whatever  they 
were  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  they  were  fiatists 
in  the  West.  From  step  to  step  through  all 
these  forty-four  years,  where,  if  you  measure 
time  by  advance,  we  have  lived  two  centuries 
as  compared  with  any  other  period  of  the 
world's  history,  they  have  pulled  back,  pulled 
back,  and  when  we  accomplish — and  it  is  neces- 
sary to  march  forward  and  try  to  accomplish 
again — they  move  into  our  old  quarters  and 
squat  down  there  and  make  faces  and  say, 
"You  are  going  to  send  the  country  to  hell." 
(Loud  cheering  and  applause.) 

But  we  do  not  mind  it.  We  move  on.  (Ap- 
plause. )  Why,  gentlemen,  why  multiply  words 
about  ancient  or  recent  conditions?  Take  the 
country  under  the  administration  of  Grover 
Cleveland,  and  compare  it  with  the  country 
under  the  administration  of  William  JNIcKinley 

94 


JOSEPH  G.   CANNON 

and  under  Theodore  Roosevelt.  (Applause.)  If 
a  man  will  dwell  on  comparison  for  a  moment, 
and  make  a  fair  comparison,  if  he  would  not  in- 
dorse the  policies  of  the  Republican  party  he 
would  not  believe  one  though  he  were  raised 
from  the  dead.  (Laughter.)  McKinley! 
Roosevelt !  The  Dingley  act,  that  restored  us 
economic  prosperity!  The  gold  standard  act, 
that  settled  for  all  time  the  matter  of  sound 
currency!  The  short,  triumphant  war  with 
Spain !  The  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico  com- 
ing under  our  flag,  and  freedom  to  Cuba,  is  a 
record  that  will  stand  in  the  future  second  only 
to  the  record  made  by  George  Washington  and 
Abraham  Lincoln.     (Applause.) 

Imported  anarchy  struck  down  our  great 
President  when  partisan  strife  had  almost 
ceased.  The  world  paused  in  wonder  and  in 
indignation,  not  in  fear,  because,  as  life  went 
from  our  great  leader  and  our  great  President, 
there  was  a  young,  active,  honest,  courageous 
man  standing  by  the  bedside,  who,  under  the 
Constitution,  was  his  successor,  and  he  there 
said:  "I  am  to  be  President,  to  carry  out  the 
policies  of  the  Republican  party,  and  I  will 
journey  in  the  footsteps  of  William  McKinley 
and  of  Abraham  Lincoln."     (Applause. ) 

To  your  coming  President  great  things  have 

95 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

happened  in  the  last  three  years.  In  the  Old 
World  a  single  great  policy  in  a  generation  is 
the  exception.  We  have  more  than  that  in  our 
progressive  country.  I  have  given  you  the 
great  achievements  under  McKinley.  Under 
his  worthy  great  successor  we  have  had  the  con- 
summation of  freedom  to  Cuba  wrought  out  by 
superior  statesmanship.  ImperiaHsm,  talked 
about  under  McKinley,  has  disappeared  with 
growing  civil  government  and  peace  in  the 
Philippines.  Aye,  it  has  disappeared  from  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Did  I  say  from  the  face  of 
the  earth?  I  will  stick  to  it,  because  the  doc- 
trinaire here  and  the  doctrinaire  there,  whether 
in  New  York  or  in  Boston,  draws  his  toga 
about  him,  saying:  "I  anl  wiser  than  thou," 
and  still,  after  this  great  question  is  settled  by 
the  conscience  and  the  intelhgence  of  all  the 
people,  cries  "Wolf!  wolf!"  Well,  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  he  has  a 
right  to.    ( Laughter. ) 

Let  them  ask  what  is  going  to  become  of  the 
Philippines !  At  last  we  have  peace,  at  last  we 
have  growing  civil  government  there,  and,  as 
our  eighty  millions  in  this  twentieth  century 
shall  increase  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions, 
as  we  shall  go  on  with  production  and  com- 
merce, in  the  fulness  of  time,  that  territory  will 

96 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

be  useful  to  the  United  States,  whereas,  in  the 
meantime,  we  will  be  like  a  benediction  to  them. 
(Applause.) 

The  United  States  is  great  in  production  and 
wealth.  How  great  in  wealth?  In  1850  $300 
in  round  numbers  was  the  per  capita  wealth. 
In  1900,  $1,235  was  the  per  capita  wealth.  In 
1860  the  wealth  was  measured  by  $16,000,000,- 
000;  in  1900,  $94,000,000,000;  now  $100,000,- 
000,000.  Great  Britain  has  an  aggregate 
wealth  of  only  $60,000,000,000,  and  she  has 
been  living  and  gathering  it  for  the  last  five 
hundred  years;  yet  in  a  generation  we  sprang 
from  $16,000,000,000  to  $100,000,000,000. 
The  world's  wealth  is  $400,000,000,000.  The 
United  States  has  one-fourth  of  it. 

But  our  friends  the  enemy,  some  of  them 
little  politicians,  vex  the  air,  crying,  "Trusts, 
trusts,  trusts!"  Oh,  they  come  out  strong  with 
good  lungs  as  trust  busters.  Since  1890  have 
they  ever  done  any  busting  ?  ( Laughter. )  Oh, 
no.  There  is  no  Jericho  now,  and,  if  there  was, 
it  would  never  happen  again  that  people  would 
march  about  the  walls  blowing  rams'  horns 
seven  times  until  the  walls  fell  down.  That  is 
what  the  Democrats  are  trying  to  do. 

"Trusts?"  Yes.  Great  combinations  of 
capital  against  public  policy?     Yes.     But  the 

97 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

Republican  party,  always  true  to  the  people 
and  its  traditions,  made  haste  to  provide  under 
the  Constitution  legislation  that  would  prohibit 
these  combinations. 

The  "do  something"  party.  It  slept  under 
Cleveland.  McKinley  had  the  war  with  Spain 
and  the  restoration  of  prosperity,  but  that 
young,  enthusiastic,  true  man  took  an  oath  to 
see  to  it  that  the  laws  were  executed,  and  has 
executed  them,  and  in  his  opinion  trusts  are  un- 
lawful and  should  be  dissolved.  That  is  the 
difference  between  the  Democrats  and  Roose- 
velt. One  bursts  by  wind,  the  other  bursts  by 
law.    ( Laughter  and  applause. ) 

There  is  no  country  on  earth  that  has  so 
much  wealth  as  ours.  Why,  interest  rates  are 
cheapening  and  cheapening  until  to-day  the 
credit  of  the  United  States  commands  money  at 
a  premium  at  2  per  cent.,  which  is  1  per  cent, 
lower  than  any  nation  on  earth  can  command  it. 

Combinations?  Yes.  But  all  the  while  our 
own  people  desiring  favorable  investments 
month  by  month  and  year  by  year  found 
additional  industries.  Take  the  census  of 
1900.  The  figures  are  correctly  tabulated 
and  made  according  to  the  facts,  and  the 
census  of  1900  shows  that  from  the  establish- 
ments of  the  so-called  trusts  in  the  United  States 

98 


JOSEPH   (?.    CANNON 

only  14  per  cent,  of  the  factory  product  came, 
whereas  86  per  cent,  of  the  factory  product 
came  from  their  competitors,  individuals  and 
small  ownerships. 

And  it  is  bound  to  be  that  way,  if  you  will 
stop  and  think.  There  are  eighty  millions  of 
our  people.  If  some  man  conceives  the  idea 
that  when  he  dies  wisdom  will  have  departed, 
and  that  he  can  corner  the  air  and  the  water  and 
the  sunlight,  he  will  find  eighty  millions  of  peo- 
ple who  make  our  civilization  that  will  not  only 
make  a  law  and  put  it  into  force,  but,  by  com- 
petition and  enterprise,  will  swear  that  the  ad- 
mitted declaration  of  the  enemy  is  a  false- 
hood. Can  you  prove  it?  Yes.  Just  a  min- 
ute. In  the  last  two  years  the  wind  and  the 
water  that  came  from  overcapitalization  in 
forming  the  so-called  trusts  have  been  squeezed 
out,  and  there  are  people  who  make  "mouth 
bets"  about  the  price  of  watered  companies  and 
companies  that  have  gas  on  top  of  the  water, 
made  by  the  printing  press  certificates.  Oh, 
they  stand  around  and  say : 

"Why,  there  is  the  most  extraordinary 
shrinkage  in  values  that  was  ever  known." 

"How  much?" 

"Oh,  a  good  many  hundreds  of  millions. 
'The  Wall  Street  Journal'  says  over  a  billion 

99 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

six  hundred  million."  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause. ) 

And  yet  every  dollar  of  property,  every  par- 
ticle of  property  that  was  represented  by  this 
overcapitalization  two  years  ago  is  yet  with  us. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  Now,  all  the  fools 
that  bet  it  to  go  down  and  the  fools  that  bet  it 
to  go  up  can  fight  it  out.  It  don't  make  one 
particle  of  diiFerence  to  the  eighty  millions  of 
people  who  live  in  the  sweat  of  their  faces  and 
do  a  legitimate  business.     (Applause.) 

Oh,  gentlemen,  the  law,  public  opinion,  pub- 
lic sentiment,  the  desire  for  good  investments, 
dollar  for  dollar  in  the  factory,  where  a  dollar 
costs  one  hundred  cents,  goes  into  competition 
against  the  factory  tliat  cost  one  hundred  cents 
and  is  burdened  with  another  hundred  cents 
water  and  another  hundred  cents  gas  and  an- 
other hundred  cents  moonshine.  Work  it  out. 
It  is  all  right.     ( Laughter  and  applause. ) 

Oh,  but,  says  our  enemy,  "My  goodness,  look 
at  the  strikes  you  are  having  in  this  countr^\" 
That  is  their  strong  suit,  strikes,  strikes. 
( Laughter  and  applause. ) 

Now,  what  is  a  strike?  The  strike  is  an  effort 
by  tlie  employer  and  the  employee  to  agree  how 
the  profit  should  be  divided.  If  the  employee 
doesn't  get  as  much  as  he  thinks  he  ought  to 

100 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

get,  after  arbitration  has  been  tried,  he  strikes. 
A  quarrel  about  something — the  division  of 
something.  Well,  then,  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  have  a  strike  that  there  should  be  a 
profit.  Great  God !  How  many  strikes  were 
there  under  Cleveland  and  when  the  Democrats 
had  the  running  of  things?  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  When  money  became  scarce  the 
profits  were  scarce.    There  is  the  whole  story. 

Oh,  but  outrageous  things  are  done  by  the 
employer  when  he  oppresses  the  laborer,  and 
outrageous  things  are  done  by  some  laborers 
when  they  go  on  a  strike.  Yes,  outrageous 
things  are  done  in  some  of  our  best  governed 
churches  and  among  those  who  do  not  belong 
to  any  church.  Once  in  a  while  a  citizen  com- 
mits larceny.  Once  in  a  while  a  man  commits 
arson.  Once  in  a  while  a  man  is  guilty  of  homi- 
cide. Why,  the  law  is  made  to  protect  society 
against  the  man  who  will  not  obey  the  law  and 
who  makes  war  on  his  neighbors.  Yes,  there  is 
lawbreaking  and  disorder.  Lawbreaking  in 
the  formation  of  trusts;  lawbreaking  at  times 
in  the  organization  of  labor  when  it  goes  on 
strike.  But  the  great  body  of  the  American 
people  that  own  the  wealth  are  not  the  trusts, 
and  the  great  body  of  labor,  honest  men  who 
live  by  the  sweat  of  their  faces,  are  not  for 

101 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

Ijawbreaking  in  the  strikes.  (Applause.)  The 
law,  the  sheet-anchor  of  civilization,  is  strong 
enough  to  pull  down  the  strongest,  strong 
enough  to  curb  the  wicked  and  the  vicious; 
strong  enough,  like  the  grace  of  God,  to  throw 
its  arms  about  the  weak  and  the  poorest  and 
bring  him  under  its  protection.     (Applause. ) 

All  must  obey  under  Theodore  Roosevelt  as 
the  national  representative  of  the  law.  (Ap- 
plause. )  He  is  and  will  continue  to  be  without 
favor  or  affection  the  representative  of  law, 
supreme  and  universal  in  our  borders. 

A  few  words  more  and  I  will  conclude.  Our 
government  is  of  the  people.  It  is  divided  into 
co-ordinate  branches — the  judges  of  the  United 
States  courts,  who  hold  office  for  life  or  during 
good  behavior;  the  Executive;  the  Congress, 
which  consists  of  two  co-ordinate  branches,  the 
House  and  the  Senate — great  legislative  bodies 
—  -the}'^  could  not  be  otherwise,  born  as  they  are 
of  80,000,000  of  people  who  are  competent  for 
self-government.  (Applause.)  In  the  Senate 
the  tenure  is  for  six  years.  The  great  popular 
body,  near  to  the  people,  that  reflects  the  senti- 
ment of  the  people,  is  chosen  every  two  years. 
Now,  then,  you  know  under  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment the  party  in  power  is  held  responsible. 
The  function  of  the  minority  is  to  put  it  on 

108 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

good  behavior  by  being  ever  ready  to  appeal  to 
the  people.  Let  me  tell  you  something.  If 
our  government  has  a  fault,  it  is  when,  after 
an  election,  one  party  is  placed  in  power  on  only 
one  leg.  It  may  have  the  Senate.  It  may 
have  the  Presidency.  It  may  have  the  House. 
It  goes  along  on  crutches.  Yet  you  want  to 
hold  it  responsible.  If  I  had  the  power  I 
would  so  change  our  Constitution  that  at  every 
quadriennial  election  the  party  that  received 
the  popular  approval  should  go  fully  into 
power,  and  let  the  public  have  a  government  ac- 
cording to  the  sentiment  expressed  at  the  ballot 
box.  (Applause.)  But  we  have  not  got  it  ar- 
ranged quite  that  way. 

What  is  the  next  best  thing  ?  You  like  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt?  Yes.  Stronger  than  his 
party,  he  will  be  triumphantly  elected. 

Do  you  like  the  Senate  of  the  United  States? 
Yes.  Its  condition  cannot  be  changed  in  No- 
vember. It  could  be  changed  at  the  end  of 
four  years,  electing  a  third  every  two  years. 

You  hke  the  House  of  Representatives,  386 
strong,  coming  with  warrants  of  attorney  from 
the  people  to  cast  their  votes  for  them  in  legis- 
lation. You  are  shortsighted  if  you  refuse  a 
working  majority  in  the  House  of  Represen- 

103 


JOSEPH   G.    CANNON 

tatives,  in  harmony  with  the  policy  of  the  Re- 
publican party. 

I  am  done;  I  have  already  detained  you 
longer  than  I  expected.  In  conclusion,  let  me 
again  say  that  we  are  proud  of  the  present,  we 
are  courageous  and  hopeful  of  the  future.  The 
twentieth  century  is  to  bring  more  of  good  or 
evil  to  the  human  race  than  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury brought.  Under  what  party  banner  will 
you  enlist?  Under  that  of  the  reactionist? 
Under  that  of  the  people  who  sit  still  or  tear 
down?  Or  will  you  take  service  with  the  party 
of  Lincoln  and  Grant  and  Garfield  and  Harri- 
son and  McKinley  and  Roosevelt  (cheers  and 
applause)  and  help  us  march  on  to  victory? 

Speaking  to  the  living  in  the  presence  of  the 
dead,  we  have  tears  for  them  and  admiration 
for  the  great  things  that  they  accomplished, 
but  the  glory  of  our  race,  of  our  civilization,  is 
that  each  generation  works  out  its  own  salva- 
tion and  marches  forward  to  success  and  the 
betterment  of  the  condition  of  mankind,  and, 
as  they  drop  into  the  grave,  their  successors 
move  on  to  the  stage  of  action,  holding  fast  all 
that  the  past  has  given  and  going  in  turn 
a  generation's  march  further  on  for  the  benefit 
of  the  race  and  of  civilization.  (Prolonged 
applause. ) 

104 


Address  by  Ex-Governor  Frank  S.  Black,  of 
New  York,  placing  Theodore  Roosevelt  in 
nomination. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
vention :  We  are  here  to  inaugurate  a  campaign 
which  seems  already  to  be  nearly  closed.  So 
wisly  have  the  people  sowed  and  watched  and 
tended,  there  seems  little  now  to  do  but  to  mea- 
sure up  the  grain.  They  are  ranging  them- 
selves not  for  battle,  but  for  harvest.  In  one 
column  reaching  from  the  Maine  woods  to  the 
Puget  Sound  are  those  people  and  those  States 
which  have  stood  so  long  together  that  when 
great  emergencies  arise  the  nation  turns  in- 
stinctively to  them.  In  this  column,  vast  and 
solid,  is  a  majority  so  overwhelming  that  the 
scattered  squads  in  opposition  can  hardly  raise 
another  army.  The  enemy  has  neither  guns 
nor  ammunition,  and  if  they  had  they  would  use 
them  on  each  other.  Destitute  of  the  weapons 
of  eifective  warfare,  the  only  evidence  of  ap- 
proaching battle  is  in  the  tone  and  number  of 
their  bulletins.  There  is  discord  among  the 
generals;  discord  among  the  soldiers.  Each 
would  fight  in  his  own  way,  but  before  assault- 

105 


FEANK   S.    BLACK 

ing  his  Republican  adversaries  he  would  first 
destroy  his  own  comrades  in  the  adjoining  tents. 
Each  believes  the  weapons  chosen  by  the  other 
are  not  only  wicked,  but  dangerous  to  the 
holder.  That  is  true.  This  is  the  only  war  of 
modern  times  where  the  boomerang  has  been 
substituted  for  the  gun.  Whatever  fatalities 
may  occur,  however,  among  the  discordant  hosts 
now  moving  on  St.  Louis,  no  harm  will  come 
this  fall  to  the  American  people.  There  will  be 
no  opposition  sufficient  to  raise  a  conflict. 
There  will  be  hardly  enough  for  practice. 
There  are  no  Democratic  plans  for  the  conduct 
of  the  fall  campaign.  Their  zeal  is  chiefly  cen- 
tered in  discussion  as  to  what  Thomas  Jefl*er- 
son  would  do  if  he  were  living.  He  is  not  liv- 
ing, and  but  few  of  his  descendants  are  among 
the  Democratic  remnants  of  to-day.  What- 
ever of  patriotism  or  wisdom  emanated  from 
that  distinguished  man  is  now  represented  in 
this  convention. 

It  is  a  sad  day  for  any  party  when  its  only 
means  of  solving  living  issues  is  by  guessing  at 
the  possible  attitude  of  a  statesman  who  is  dead. 
This  condition  leaves  that  party  always  a  be- 
ginner and  makes  every  question  new.  The 
Democratic  party  has  seldom  tried  a  problem 
on  its  own  account,  and  when  it  has  its  blunders 

106 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

have  been  its  only  monuments;  its  courage  is 
remembered  in  regret.  As  long  as  these 
things  are  recalled  that  party  may  serve  as  bal- 
last, but  it  will  never  steer  the  ship. 

When  all  the  people  have  forgotten  will 
dawn  a  golden  era  for  this  new  Democracy. 
But  the  country  is  not  ready  yet  to  place  a 
party  in  the  lead  whose  most  expressive  motto 
is  the  cheerless  word  "forget."  That  motto  may 
express  contrition,  but  it  does  not  inspire  hope. 
Neither  confidence  nor  enthusiasm  will  ever  be 
aroused  by  any  party  which  enters  each  cam- 
paign uttering  the  language  of  the  mourner. 

There  is  one  fundamental  plank,  however,  on 
which  the  two  great  parties  are  in  full  agree- 
ment. Both  believe  in  the  equality  of  men.  The 
difference  is  that  the  Democratic  party  would 
make  every  man  as  low  as  the  poorest,  while 
the  Republican  party  would  make  every  man  as 
high  as  the  best.  But  the  Democratic  course 
will  provoke  no  outside  interference  now,  for 
the  Republican  motto  is  that  of  the  great  com- 
mander, "never  interrupt  the  enemy  while  he  is 
making  a  mistake." 

In  politics  as  in  other  fields,  the  most  im- 
pressive arguments  spring  from  contrast. 
Never  has  there  been  a  more  striking  example 
of  unity  than  is  now  aff*orded  by  this  assem- 

107 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

blage.  You  are  gathered  here  not  as  factions 
torn  by  discordant  views,  but  moved  by  one  de- 
sire and  intent;  you  have  come  as  the  chosen 
representatives  of  the  most  enlightened  party 
in  the  world.  You  meet  not  as  strangers,  for 
no  men  are  strangers  who  hold  the  same  beliefs 
and  espouse  the  same  cause.  You  may  separ- 
ate two  bodies  of  water  for  a  thousand  years, 
but  when  once  the  barrier  is  removed  they 
mingle  instantly  and  are  one.  The  same  tra- 
ditions inspire  and  the  same  purposes  actuate 
us  all.  Never  in  our  lives  did  these  purposes 
stand  with  deeper  root  than  now.  At  least  two 
generations  have  passed  away  since  the  origin 
of  that  great  movement  from  which  sprang  the 
spirit  which  has  been  the  leading  impulse  in 
American  politics  for  half  a  century.  In  that 
movement,  which  was  both  a  creation  and  an 
example,  were  those  great  characters  which  en- 
dowed the  Republican  party  at  its  birth  with 
the  attributes  of  justice,  equality  and  progress, 
which  have  held  it  to  this  hour  in  line  with  the 
highest  sentiments  of  mankind.  From  these 
men  we  have  inherited  the  desire,  and  to  their 
memory  we  owe  the  resolution,  that  those  great 
schemes  of  government  and  humanity,  inspired 
by  their  patriotism,  and  established  by  their 
blood,  shall  remain  as  the  fixed  and  permanent 

108 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

emblem  of  their  labors,  and  the  abiding  signal 
of  the  liberty  and  progress  of  the  race. 

There  are  many  new  names  in  these  days, 
but  the  Republican  party  needs  no  new  title.  It 
stands  now  where  it  stood  at  the  beginning. 
Memory  alone  is  needed  to  tell  the  source  from 
which  the  inspirations  of  the  country  flow.  A 
drowsy  memory  would  be  as  guilty  now  as  a 
sleeping  watchman  when  the  enemy  is  astir. 
The  name  of  the  Republican  party  stands  over 
every  door  where  a  righteous  cause  was  born. 
Its  members  have  gathered  around  every  move- 
ment, no  matter  how  weak,  if  inspired  by  high 
resolve.  Its  flag  for  more  than  fifty  years  has 
been  the  sign  of  hope  on  every  spot  where  lib- 
erty was  the  word.  That  party  needs  no  new 
name  or  platform  to  designate  its  purposes.  It 
is  now  as  it  has  been,  equipped,  militant  and  in 
motion.  The  problems  of  every  age  that  age 
must  solve.  Great  causes  impose  great  de- 
mands, but  never  in  any  enterprise  have  the 
American  people  failed,  and  never  in  any  crisis 
has  the  Republican  party  failed  to  express  the 
conscience  and  intelligence  of  that  people. 

The  public  mind  is  awake  both  to  its  oppor- 
tunities and  its  dangers.  Nowhere  in  the  world, 
in  any  era,  did  citizenship  mean  more  than  it 
means  to-day  in  America.  ]\Ien  of  courage  and 

109 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

sturdy  character  are  ranging  themselves  to- 
gether with  a  unanimity  seldom  seen.  There  is 
no  excuse  for  groping  in  the  dark,  for  the  light 
is  plain  to  him  who  will  but  raise  his  eyes.  The 
American  people  believe  in  a  man  or  a  party 
that  has  convictions  and  knows  why.  They  be- 
lieve that  what  experience  has  proved  it  is  idle 
to  resist.  A  wise  man  is  any  fool  about  to  die. 
But  there  is  a  wisdom  which,  with  good  fortune, 
may  guide  the  living  and  the  strong.  That  wis- 
dom springs  from  reason,  observation  and  ex- 
perience. Guided  by  these  this  thing  is  plain, 
and  young  men  may  rely  upon  it,  that  the  his- 
tory and  purposes  I  have  described,  rising  even 
to  the  essence  and  aspirations  of  patriotism, 
find  their  best  concrete  example  in  the  career 
and  doctrines  of  the  Republican  party. 

But  not  alone  upon  the  principles  of  that 
party  are  its  members  in  accord.  With  the  same 
devotion  which  has  marked  their  adherence  to 
those  principles,  magnificent  and  enduring  as 
they  are,  they  have  already  singled  out  the  man 
to  bear  their  standard  and  to  lead  the  way.  No 
higher  badge  was  ever  yet  conferred.  But, 
great  as  the  honor  is,  the  circumstances  which 
surround  it  make  that  honor  even  more  pro- 
found. You  have  come  from  every  State  and 
Territory  in  this  vast  domain.     The  country 

110 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

and  the  town  have  vied  with  each  other  in  send- 
ing here  their  contrihutions  to  this  splendid 
throng.  Every  highway  in  the  land  is  leading 
here  and  crowded  with  the  members  of  that 
great  party  which  sees  in  this  splendid  city  the 
symbol  of  its  rise  and  power.  Within  this  un- 
exampled multitude  is  every  rank  and  condition 
of  free  men,  every  creed  and  occupation.  But 
to-day  a  common  purpose  and  desire  have  en- 
gaged us  all,  and  from  every  nook  and  corner 
of  the  country  rises  but  a  single  choice  to  fill  the 
most  exalted  office  in  the  world. 

He  is  no  stranger  waiting  in  the  shade,  to  be 
called  suddenly  into  public  light.  The  Ameri- 
can people  have  seen  him  for  many  years,  and 
always  where  the  fight  was  thickest  and  the 
greatest  need  was  felt.  He  has  been  alike  con- 
spicuous in  the  pursuits  of  peace  and  in  the 
arduous  stress  of  war.  No  man  now  living  will 
forget  the  spring  of  '98,  when  the  American 
mind  was  so  inflamed  and  American  patriotism 
so  aroused;  when  among  all  the  eager  citizens 
surging  to  the  front  as  soldiers,  the  man  whom 
this  convention  has  already  in  its  heart  was 
among  the  first  to  hear  the  call  and  answer  to 
his  name.  Preferring  peace,  but  not  afraid  of 
war;  faithful  to  every  private  obligation,  yet 
first  to  volunteer  at  the  sign  of  national  peril ;  a 

111 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

leader  in  civil  life,  and  yet  so  quick  to  compre- 
hend the  arts  of  war  that  he  grew  almost  in  a 
day  to  meet  the  high  exactions  of  command. 
There  is  nothing  which  so  tests  a  man  as  great 
and  unexpected  danger.  He  may  pass  his  life 
amid  ordinary  scenes,  and  what  he  is  or  does 
but  few  will  ever  know.  But  when  the  crash 
comes  or  the  flames  break  out,  a  moment's  time 
will  single  out  the  hero  in  the  crowd.  A  flash 
of  lightning  in  the  night  will  reveal  what  years 
of  daylight  have  not  discovered  to  the  eye. 
And  so  the  flash  of  the  Spanish  War  revealed 
that  lofty  courage  and  devotion  which  the 
American  heart  so  loves,  and  which  you  have 
met  again  to  decorate  and  recognize.  His 
qualities  do  not  need  to  be  retold,  for  no  man 
in  that  exalted  place  since  Lincoln  has  been 
better  known  in  every  household  in  the  land. 
He  is  not  conservative,  if  conservatism  means 
waiting  till  it  is  too  late.  He  is  not  wise,  if 
wisdom  is  to  count  a  thing  a  hundred  times 
when  once  will  do.  There  is  no  regret  so  keen 
in  man  or  country  as  that  which  follows  an 
opportunity  unembraced.  Fortune  soars  with 
high  and  rapid  wing,  and  whoever  brings  it 
down  must  shoot  with  accuracy  and  speed. 
Only  the  man  with  steady  eye  and  nerve,  and 
the  courage  to  pull  the  trigger,  brings  the  larg- 

112 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

est  opportunities  to  the  ground.  He  does  not 
always  listen  while  all  the  sages  speak,  but 
every  day  at  nightfall  beholds  some  record 
which,  if  not  complete,  has  been  at  least  pur- 
sued with  conscience  and  intrepid  resolution. 

He  is  no  slender  flower  swaying  in  the  wind, 
but  that  heroic  fibre  which  is  best  nurtured  by 
the  mountains  and  the  snow.  He  spends  little 
time  in  review,  for  that,  he  knows,  can  be  done 
by  the  schools.  A  statesman  grappling  with 
the  living  problems  of  the  hour,  he  gropes  but 
little  in  the  past.  He  believes  in  going  ahead. 
He  believes  that  in  shaping  the  destinies  of 
this  great  Republic  hope  is  a  higher  impulse 
than  regret.  He  believes  that  preparation  for 
future  triumphs  is  a  more  important  duty  than 
an  inventory  of  past  mistakes.  A  profound 
student  of  history,  he  is  to-day  the  greatest  his- 
tory-maker in  the  world.  With  the  instincts  of 
the  scholar,  he  is  yet  forced  from  the  scholar's 
pursuits  by  those  superb  qualities  which  fit  him 
to  the  last  degree  for  those  great  world  cur- 
rents now  rushing  past  with  larger  volume 
and  more  portentous  aspect  than  for  many 
years  before.  The  fate  of  nations  is  still  de- 
cided by  their  wars.  You  may  talk  of  orderly 
tribunals  and  learned  referees ;  you  may  sing  in 
your  schools  the  gentle  praises  of  the  quiet  life; 

113 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

you  may  strike  from  your  books  the  last  note 
of  every  martial  anthem,  and  yet  out  in  the 
smoke  and  thunder  will  always  be  the  tramp 
of  horses  and  the  silent,  rigid,  upturned  face. 
Men  may  prophesy  and  women  pray,  but  peace 
will  come  here  to  abide  forever  on  this  earth 
only  when  the  dreams  of  childhood  are  the 
accepted  charts  to  guide  the  destinies  of  men. 
Events  are  numberless  and  mighty,  and  no  man 
can  tell  which  wire  runs  around  the  world.  The 
nation  basking  to-day  in  the  quiet  of  content- 
ment and  repose  may  still  be  on  the  deadly  cir- 
cuit and  to-morrow  writhing  in  the  toils  of  war. 
This  is  the  time  when  great  figures  must  be 
kept  in  front.  If  the  pressure  is  great,  the 
material  to  resist  it  must  be  granite  and  iron. 
Whether  we  wish  it  or  not,  America  is  abroad 
in  this  world.  Her  interests  are  in  every  street, 
her  name  is  on  every  tongue.  Those  interests, 
so  sacred  and  stupendous,  should  be  trusted 
only  to  the  care  of  those  whose  power,  skill  and 
courage  have  been  tested  and  approved.  And 
in  the  man  whom  you  will  choose  the  highest 
sense  of  every  nation  in  the  world  beholds  a 
man  who  typifies  as  no  other  living  American 
does,  the  spirit  and  the  purposes  of  the  twen- 
tieth century.  He  does  not  claim  to  be  the 
Solomon  of  his  time.    There  are  many  things 

114 


FRANK   S.    BLACK 

he  may  not  know,  but  this  is  sure,  that  above 
all  things  else  he  stands  for  progress,  courage 
and  fair  play,  which  are  the  synonyms  of  the 
American  name. 

There  are  times  when  great  fitness  is  hardly 
less  than  destiny,  when  the  elements  so  come 
together  that  they  select  the  agent  they  will 
use.  Events  sometimes  select  the  strongest 
man,  as  lightning  goes  down  the  highest  rod. 
And  so  it  is  with  those  events  which  for  many 
months  with  unerring  sight  have  led  you  to  a 
single  name  which  I  am  chosen  only  to  pro- 
nounce :  Gentlemen,  I  nominate  for  President 
of  the  United  States  the  highest  living  type  of 
the  youth,  the  vigor  and  the  promise  of  a  great 
country  and  a  great  age,  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
of  New  York. 


115 


Address  by  Senator  Albert  J.  Beveridge,  of 
Indiana  J  seconding  the  nomination  of  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  One  differ- 
ence between  the  opposition  and  ourselves  is 
this:  They  select  their  candidate  for  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  people  select  our  candidate  for  us. 
(Applause.)  This  was  true  four  years  ago, 
when  we  accepted  the  people's  judgment  and 
named  William  McKinley  (cheers),  whose 
perfect  mingling  of  mind  and  heart,  of  wis- 
dom and  of  tenderness,  won  the  trust  and  love 
of  the  nation  then  and  makes  almost  holy 
his  memory  now.  (Applause.)  His  power 
was  in  the  people's  favor,  his  shrine  is  in  the 
people's  hearts.  It  is  true  to-day  when  we 
again  accept  the  people's  judgment  and  name 
Theodore  Roosevelt  (great  cheering),  whose 
sympathies  are  as  wide  as  the  RepubHc,  whose 
courage,  honesty  and  vision  meet  all  emergen- 
cies, and  the  sum  of  whose  quaHties  make  him 
the  type  of  twentieth  century  Americanism. 
(Cheers.)  And  the  twentieth  century  Ameri- 
can is  nothing  more  than  the  man  of  '76  facing 
a  new  day  with  the  old  faith.  (Great  applause.) 

117 


ALBERT   J.    BEVERIDGE 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  like  William  McKin- 
ley,  is  the  nominee  of  the  American  fireside. 
(Applause.)  So  were  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson in  the  early  time ;  so  was  Andrew  Jack- 
son when  he  said,  "The  Union:  It  must  be 
preserved";  so  was  Abraham  Lincoln  (cheers) 
when,  the  Republic  saved,  he  bade  us  "bind  up 
the  nation's  wounds";  and  Grant  when,  from 
victory's  very  summit,  his  lofty  words,  "Let 
us  have  peace,"  voiced  the  spirit  of  the 
hour  and  the  people's  prayer.  (Applause.) 
When  nominated  by  parties,  each  of  these 
great  Presidents  was,  at  the  periods  named,  al- 
ready chosen  by  the  public  judgment.  And 
so  to-day,  the  Republican  party,  whose  strength 
is  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, merely  executes  again  the  decree  which 
comes  to  it  from  the  American  home  in  naming 
Theodore  Roosevelt  as  our  candidate.  ( Cheer- 
ing.) 

The  people's  thought  is  his  thought ;  Ameri- 
can ideals,  his  ideals.  This  is  his  only  chart  of 
statesmanship — and  no  other  is  safe.  ( Cheers. ) 
For  the  truest  guide  an  American  President 
can  have  is  the  collective  intelligence  and 
massed  morality  of  the  American  people.  And 
this  ancient  rule  of  the  fathers  is  the  rule  of 
our  leaders  now.     (Applause.) 

118 


ALBERT   J.    BEVEEIDGE 

Theodore  Roosevelt  is  a  leader  who  leads 
(cheers),  because  he  carries  out  the  settled 
purposes  of  the  people.  (Applause.)  Our 
President's  plans,  when  achieved,  are  always 
found  to  be  merely  the  nation's  will  accom- 
plished. (Applause.)  And  that  is  why  the 
people  will  elect  him.  They  will  elect  him 
because  they  know  that  if  he  is  President  we 
will  get  to  work  and  keep  at  work  on  the  canal. 
(Great  applause.)  After  decades  of  delay 
when  the  people  want  a  thing  done  they  want 
it  done.  (Applause.)  They  know  that  while 
he  is  President  the  flag  will  "stay  put"  (cheer- 
ing), and  no  American  advantage  in  the  Pa- 
cific or  the  world  be  surrendered.  (Cheers.) 
Americans  never  retreat.  (Continued  cheer- 
ing.) 

While  he  is  President  no  wrongdoer  in  the 
service  of  the  government  will  go  unwhipped 
of  justice.  (Applause.)  Americans  demand 
honesty  and  honor,  vigilant  and  fearless.  (Ap- 
plause.) While  he  is  President  readjustment 
of  tariff  schedules  will  be  made  only  in  har- 
mony with  the  principles  of  protection.  (Ap- 
plause.) Americans  have  memories.  While 
he  is  President  peace  with  every  nation  will  be 
preserved  at  any  cost,  excepting  only  the  sac- 
rifice of  American  rights,  and  the  vigor  with 

119 


ALBERT   J.    BE^TEEIDGE 

which  he  maintained  these  will  be  itself  a 
guarantee  of  peace.  (Applause.)  The  Amer- 
ican people  will  elect  him  because,  in  a  word, 
they  know  that  he  does  things  the  people 
want  done;  does  things,  not  merely  discusses 
them — does  things  only  after  discussing  them 
— but  does  things,  and  does  only  those  things 
the  people  would  have  him  do.  (Applause.) 
This  is  characteristically  American,  for  wher- 
ever he  is  the  American  is  he  who  achieves. 
(Applause.) 

On  every  question  all  men  know  where  he 
stands.  Americans,  frank  themselves,  demand 
frankness  in  their  servants.  TsTo  mystery  was 
ever  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  or 
ever  will  be.  (Great  cheering,  renewed.)  Un- 
certainty is  the  death  of  business.  The  people 
can  always  get  along  if  they  know  where  they 
are  and  whither  they  are  going.     (Cheers.) 

His  past  is  his  proof.  Every  great  measure 
of  his  administration  was  so  wise  that,  enthusi- 
astically sustained  by  his  own  party,  it  won 
votes  even  from  the  opposition.  (Applause.) 
Do  you  name  Cuban  reciprocity?  The  opposi- 
tion resisted,  and  then  opposition  votes  helped 
to  ratify  it.  (Applause.)  Do  you  name  cor- 
porate legislation?  The  opposition  resisted, 
and  then    opposition   votes  helped  to  enact 

120 


ALBERT   J.    BEVEEIDGE 

it.  (Applause.)  Do  you  name  the  canal — 
that  largest  work  of  centuries,  the  eternal  wed- 
ding of  oceans,  shrinking  the  circumference  of 
the  globe,  making  distant  peoples  neighbors, 
advancing  forever  civilization  all  around  the 
world?  This  historic  undertaking  in  the  in- 
terest of  all  the  race,  planned  by  American 
statesmanship,  to  be  wrought  by  American 
hands  (applause),  to  stand  through  the  ages 
protected  by  the  American  flag;  this  vast 
achievement  which  will  endure  when  our  day 
shall  have  become  ancient,  and  which  alone  is 
enough  to  make  the  name  of  Theodore  Roose- 
velt illustrious  through  all  time  (great  ap- 
plause)— this  fulfillment  of  the  Republic's 
dream  accomphshed  by  Republican  effort, 
finally  received  votes  even  from  an  opposition 
that  tried  to  thwart  it.    ( Cheers. ) 

Of  what  measure  of  Theodore  Roosevelt's 
administration  does  the  opposition  dare  even 
to  propose  the  repeal?  And  when  has  the  rec- 
ord of  any  President  won  greater  approval? 

And  so  the  people  trust  him  as  a  statesman. 
Better  than  that,  they  love  him  as  a  man. 
(Contined  applause.)  He  wins  admiration  in 
vain  who  wins  not  affection  also.  (Applause.) 
In  the  American  home — that  temple  of 
happiness  and  virtue,  where  dwell  the  wives  and 

121 


ALBERT   J.    BEVERIDGE 

mothers  of  the  Republic,  cherishing  the  beauti- 
ful in  life  and  guarding  the  morality  of  the 
nation — in  the  American  home  the  name  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt  is  not  only  honored,  but 
beloved.  (Cheers.)  And  that  is  a  greater  tri- 
umph than  the  victory  of  battlefields,  greater 
credit  than  successful  statesmanship,  greater 
honor  than  the  Presidency  itself  would  be  with- 
out it.  (Applause.)  Life  holds  no  reward  so 
noble  as  the  confidence  and  love  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.     (Applause.) 

The  American  people !  The  mightiest  force 
for  good  the  ages  have  evolved!  (Applause.) 
They  began  as  children  of  liberty.  They  be- 
lieved in  God  and  His  providence.  They  took 
truth  and  justice  and  tolerance  as  their  eternal 
ideals  and  marched  fearlessly  forward.  Wilder- 
nesses stretched  before  them — they  subdued 
them.  Mountains  rose — they  crossed  them. 
Deserts  obstructed — they  passed  them.  Their 
faith  failed  them  not,  and  a  continent  was 
theirs.  From  ocean  to  ocean  cities  rose,  fields 
blossomed,  railroads  ran;  but  everywhere 
church  and  school  were  permanent  proof  that 
the  principles  of  their  origin  were  the  life  of 
their  maturity.     (Applause.) 

American  methods  changed,  but  American 
character  remained  the  same.     They  outlived 

122 


ALBERT   J.   BEVERIDGE 

the  stage-coach  but  not  the  Bible.  (Ap- 
plause.) They  advanced,  but  forgot  not  their 
fathers.  They  delved  in  earth,  but  remem- 
bered the  higher  things.  They  made  highways 
of  the  oceans,  but  distance  and  climate  altered 
not  their  Americanism.  (Applause.)  They 
began  as  children  of  liberty,  and  children  of 
liberty  they  remain.  They  began  as  servants 
of  the  Father  of  Light,  and  His  servants  they 
remain.  And  so  into  their  hands  is  daily  given 
more  of  power  and  opportunity  that  they  may 
work  even  larger  righteousness  in  the  world 
and  scatter  over  ever-widening  fields  the 
blessed  seeds  of  human  happiness.  (Ap- 
plause. ) 

Wonderful  beyond  prophecy's  forecast  their 
progress ;  noble  beyond  the  vision  of  desire  their 
future.  In  1801,  Jefferson  said:  "The  United 
States  (then)  had  room  enough  for  our  de- 
scendants to  the  thousandth  and  thousandth 
generation."  Three  generations  behold  the 
oceans  our  boundaries.  (Applause.)  Wash- 
ington never,  never  dreamed  of  railways.  To- 
day electricity  and  steam  make  Maine  and 
California  household  neighbors.  (Applause.) 
This  advance,  which  no  seer  could  have  fore- 
told, we  made  because  we  are  Americans  (ap- 
plause)— because  a  free  people  with  unfet- 

123 


ALBERT   J.    BEVERIDGE 

tered  minds  and  unquestioning  belief  joy- 
fully faced  the  universe  of  human  possibilities. 
These  possibilities  are  not  exhausted.  We  have 
hardly  passed  their  boundaries.  The  American 
people  are  not  exhausted;  we  have  only  tested 
our  strength.  (Continued  applause.)  God's 
work  for  us  in  the  world  is  not  finished;  His 
future  missions  for  the  American  people  will 
be  grander  than  any  He  has  given  us,  nobler 
than  we  now  can  comprehend.  (Cheers.)  And 
these  tasks  as  they  come  we  will  accept  and  ac- 
comphsh  as  our  fathers  accomplished  theirs. 
(Applause.)  And  when  our  generation  shall 
have  passed  and  our  children  shall  catch  from 
our  aging  hands  the  standard  we  have  borne,  it 
will  still  be  the  old  flag  of  Yorktown  and  Appo- 
matox  and  Manila  Bay  (great  cheering)  ;  the 
music  to  which  they  in  their  turn  will  then 
move  onward  will  still  be  the  strains  that 
cheered  the  dying  Warren  on  Bunker  Hill  and 
inspired  the  men  who  answered  Lincoln's  call 
(continued  cheering)  ;  and  the  ideals  that  will 
be  in  them  triumphant  as  they  are  in  us  will  still 
be  the  old  ideals  that  have  made  the  American 
people  great  and  honored  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.     (Cheers.) 

This  is  the  Republican  idea  of  the  American 
people;  this  the  thought  we  have  when  we  nom- 

124 


ALBERT  J.   BEVEEIDGE 

inate  to-day  our  candidate  for  the  nation's 
chief;  this  the  quality  of  Americanism  a  Re- 
publican standard-bearer  must  have.  ( Cheers. ) 
And  this  is  just  the  Americanism  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt.  (Great  applause  and  cries  of 
"Roosevelt.")  Full  of  the  old-time  faith  in 
the  Repubhc  and  its  destiny;  charged  with  the 
energy  of  the  Republic's  full  manhood;  cher- 
ishing the  ordinances  of  the  Republic's  fathers 
and  having  in  his  heart  the  fear  of  God;  in- 
spired by  the  sure  knowledge  that  the  Repub- 
lic's splendid  day  is  only  in  its  dawn,  Theodore 
Roosevelt  will  lead  the  American  people  in 
paths  of  safety  to  still  greater  welfare  for 
themselves,  still  broader  betterment  of  the  race 
and  to  the  added  honor  of  the  American  name. 
Therefore,  Indiana  seconds  the  nomination  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt.     (Demonstration.) 


125 


^^^^^drtt/if^^^J^ 


Address  of  George  A.  Knight,  of  California, 
seconding  the  nomination  of  President 
Roosevelt. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  Geography 
has  but  little  to  do  with  the  sentiment  and  en- 
thusiasm that  is  to-day  apparent  in  favor  of  the 
one  who  is  to  be  given  all  the  honors  and  duties 
of  an  elected  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  However,  the  Pacific  Slope  and  the 
islands  (those  ocean  buoys  of  commerce  moored 
in  the  drowsy  tropical  sea)  send  to  this  conven- 
tion words  of  confident  greeting,  with  discreet 
assurance  that  your  judgment  will  be  indorsed 
by  the  American  voter  and  our  country  con- 
tinue its  wonderful  progress  under  Republican 
rule. 

The  time  is  ripe  for  brightening  up  Ameri- 
canism, to  teach  with  renewed  vigor  the  prin- 
ciples of  individual  liberty  for  which  the  Min- 
ute Men  of  the  Revolution  fought — the  Lin- 
coln liberty,  an  individual  liberty  for  the  man, 
not  a  black  alone,  any  men,  all  men.  The  right 
to  labor  in  the  air  of  freedom  unmolested,  and 
be  paid  for  his  individual  toil  and  with  it  build 
his  cottage  home.    From  the  press,  the  pulpit, 

127 


GEORGE   A.    K:NIGHT 

the  schoolliouse,  the  platform  and  the  street  let 
the  true  history  of  our  country  be  known,  that 
the  young  men  and  women  of  America,  and 
many  old  ones,  may  know  what  a  price  has  been 
paid  for  the  liberty,  peace  and  union  they  enjoy 
through  the  devoted  patriotism  of  our  silent  he- 
roes of  the  past.  Deprivation  and  sacrifice  were 
endured  for  many  years  before  the  old  bell  in 
the  State  House  was  given  the  voice  to  speak 
the  glorious  sentiment  of  the  age  and  proclaim 
Liberty  throughout  all  the  land,  and  they  were 
made  the  instruments  by  which  the  principles 
productive  of  our  national  grandeur  were  set  as 
jewels  in  our  Republic's  coronet.  What  we 
prayed  for,  fought  for,  bled  for  and  died  for 
we  want  cared  for.  Telegraph  the  world  that 
the  Republican  party  was  the  first  organization 
that  beckoned  the  laboring  man  to  his  feet  and 
made  him  know  the  quahty  and  equality  of  his 
true  self.  It  showed  him  the  possibilities  of 
honest  poverty,  and  has  withheld  nothing  from 
his  worthy  ambition.  It  took  a  rail-splitter  from 
the  ground  floor  of  a  log  cabin  and  set  him  with 
the  stars. 

Protection  to  American  labor  and  our  nat- 
ural resources,  climate,  soil,  agricultural  and 
mineral  wealth,  navigable  rivers  and  safe  har- 
bors, wise  laws  and  clean  public  men,  have  made 

128 


6fiORGE  A.   KNIGSl' 

US  the  greatest  nation  on  earth  to-day.  In  ter- 
ritory we  have  outgrown  the  continent ;  we  are 
peopHng  the  isles  of  the  sea. 

Thus  said  the  Lord,  a  great  eagle  with  great 
wings,  long  winged  and  full  of  feathers,  which 
had  divers  color,  came  unto  Lebanon  and  took 
the  highest  branch  of  the  cedar.  He  cropped 
off  the  top  of  its  young  twigs  and  carried  it  into 
a  land  of  traffic ;  he  set  it  in  a  city  of  merchants ; 
he  took  also  of  the  seed  of  the  land  and  planted 
it  in  a  fruitful  field;  he  placed  it  across  great 
waters  and  set  it  as  a  willow  tree. 

How  like  unto  our  emblem  of  freedom !  He 
has  cropped  off  the  young  twigs  of  our  "Cedar 
of  Liberty"  and  carried  them  across  the  ocean 
to  the  land  of  traffic  and  set  them  in  the  city  of 
merchants.  The  seed  of  our  land  is  there — 
among  fruitful  fields — beside  great  waters  and 
set  as  a  willow  tree. 

Our  country  is  big  and  broad  and  grand ;  we 
want  a  President  typical  of  the  country,  one 
who  will  preserve  her  history,  enforce  her  law, 
teach  Americanism  and  fight  the  wrong.  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt,  thou  art  the  man.  Well  may 
he  be  proud ;  he  is  young,  the  pride  of  life  is  his 
and  time  is  on  his  side ;  he  loves  the  whole  coun- 
try and  knows  no  favorite  section;  he  has  per- 
formed his  sacred  promise;  he  has  kept  the  faith 

129 


GEOUGE  A.   KNIGHT 

with  McKinley's  memory,  and  now  faces  re- 
sponsibilities his  own.  He  hypnotizes  obstacles, 
looks  them  in  the  eye  and  overpowers  with  self- 
conscious  honesty  of  purpose. 

Dishonesty,  cowardice  and  duplicity  are 
never  impulsive ;  Roosevelt  is  impulsive,  so  be  it 
— ^he  is  different.  From  a  Democratic  point  of 
view,  he  is  a  weird  magician  of  politics.  They 
charged  him  with  disrupting  a  government  on 
the  isthmus,  creating  a  republic  and  unlawfully 
conniving  at  a  canal.  They  awoke  one  fine 
morning  to  find  the  Republic  of  Panama  an 
entity,  its  existence  recognized  by  foreign  na- 
tions and  Congress  paying  out  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  ratify  his  strategic  promptness.  He 
wanted  to  give  Uncle  Sam  a  job,  and  he  did  it, 
and  Uncle  Sam  wanted  the  job  and  he  took  it. 
He  belongs  to  the  Union.  We  see  him  stand- 
ing to-day  with  his  foot  upon  the  spade,  his 
garments  are  made  of  his  flag,  his  inventive 
Yankee  whiskers  are  bushed,  there  is  an  Ameri- 
can smile  on  his  face  and  his  heart  is  gladdened 
as  he  looks  at  the  golden  sunrise  of  his  commer- 
cial future.  Barnacle  bottomed  ships  of  the 
great  salt  sea  will  greet  the  great  Father  of 
Waters  and  make  every  town  on  his  banks  a 
maritime  city.  The  owner  of  the  farm,  factory 
and  mine  will  become  familiar  with  names  they 

130 


GEORGE   A.    KNIGHT 

never  knew  and  write  strange  addresses  on  the 
exports  they  send  across  the  unharvested  ocean. 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  Yokohama,  Hong 
Kong,  Manila,  Honolulu  and  Corea  will  be 
some  of  the  new  names  the  new  South  will  be 
glad  to  know,  and  their  children  will  bless  the 
President  that  gave  them  their  wonderful  op- 
portunities of  trade.  The  blessings  of  this  great 
work  cannot  be  told  in  words,  and  figures  will 
get  wabbly  and  unsteady  with  their  load  when 
you  chalk  them  on  the  blackboard  of  time. 

We  want  this  younger  Lincoln — The  keeper 
of  our  great  eagle — we  want  him  with  his  hands 
on  the  halyards  of  our  flag ;  we  want  him  the  de- 
fender of  our  Constitution  and  the  executive  of 
our  law,  and  when  we  have  used  him  and  the 
best  years  of  his  young  manhood  for  the  good 
of  the  nation,  he  will  still  be  holding  our  banner 
of  liberty,  with  stars  added  to  its  azure  field,  its 
history  sacred,  its  stripes  untarnished,  and  by 
command  of  the  majority  hand  it  to  the  Ameri- 
can patriot  standing  next  in  line. 


131 


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C^OfT^'^^^^JtM  \^^ti,^xrt^ 


Address  by  Harry  Stilwell  Edwards,  Post- 
master, of  Macon,  Ga.,  seconding  President 
Roosevelt's  nomination  in  behalf  of  the 
South: 

It  is  eminently  fit  and  proper  that  a  Geor- 
gian should  on  this  occasion  second  the  eloquent 
speaker  from  New  York,  that  the  voice  of  the 
motherland  should  blend  with  the  voice  of  the 
fatherland  to  declare  that  the  destinies  of 
America  shall  for  four  years  more  be  intrusted 
to  the  great  son  born  of  the  union  of  the  two 
Empire  States. 

I  do  not  belittle  the  influence  of  a  father 
when  I  say  that  if  the  iron  in  a  son's  nature  be 
derived  from  him  the  gold  is  coined  from  the 
heart  of  the  mother  whose  lap  has  cradled  him. 
And  because  I  believe  this,  because  the  lesson 
at  the  mother's  knee  is  the  seed  that  sends  a 
stalk  toward  heaven  and  opens  far  up  its  axil- 
lary blossom  in  the  morning  light,  because  the 
lofty  ideals  of  manhood  are  rooted  deeper  than 
youth,  because  that  which  a  man  instinctively 
would  be  has  been  dreamed  for  him  in  advance 
by  a  mother,  I  claim  for  Georgia  the  larger 
share  in  the  man  you  have  chosen  your  leader. 

133 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

The  childhood  of  the  good  woman  who  bore 
him  was  cast  near  where  the  Atlantic  flows  in 
over  the  marsh  and  the  sand.  There  she  first 
built  her  a  home  in  the  greatness  of  God. 
Womanhood  found  her  within  the  uplifting 
view  of  the  mountains  in  a  land  over  which  the 
Almighty  inverts  a  sapphire  cup  by  day  and 
sets  His  brightest  stars  on  guard  by  night.  And 
there,  fellow  countrymen,  the  soul  of  your 
President  was  born.  Those  of  us  who  know 
and  love  him  catch  in  the  easy  flow  of  his  utter- 
ance and  feel  in  its  largeness  of  thought  and 
contempt  of  littleness  the  rhythm  of  the  ocean 
on  the  Georgian  sands  and  the  spirit  of  the 
deep.  In  his  lofty  ideals  and  hopefulness,  in 
his  fixedness  of  purpose  and  unchanging,  rock- 
ribbed  honesty  we  hear  the  mountains  calling. 
In  his  daring,  his  impulsive  courage,  his  uncon- 
querable manhood,  we  see  his  great  brother,  the 
Georgia  volunteer,  in  the  hand-to-hand  fights 
of  the  Wilderness,  the  impetuous  rush  up  the 
heights  of  Gettysburg  and  the  defiance  of  over- 
whelming odds  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta. 
We  look  on  him  as  a  Georgian  abroad;  and  if, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  it  may  be  so  we  shall 
welcome  him  home  some  day — not  as  a  prodigal 
son  who  has  wasted  his  manhood,  but  as  one 

134 


HAREY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

who  on  every  field  of  endeavor  has  honored  his 
mother  and  worn  the  victor's  wreath. 

Coming  into  the  position  of  the  martyred 
McKinley,  the  youngest  Chief  Magistrate  that 
has  ever  filled  the  Presidential  chair,  without 
the  privilege  and  advantage  of  preliminary  dis- 
cussion and  consultation,  he  gave  the  country  a 
pledge  that  he  would  carry  out  the  policies  of 
his  predecessor.  It  was  a  master  stroke  of  ge- 
nius, applauded  alike  North  and  South.  His 
conception  of  the  duties  of  his  high  office,  as 
enunciated  by  him  at  Harvard,  was  "to  serve 
all  alike,  well;  to  act  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  and 
justice  to  all  men,  and  to  give  each  man  his 
rights."  He  has  kept  this  pledge ;  he  has  lived 
up  to  this  fine  conception  of  his  duty.  This 
pledge  involved  a  completion  of  the  work  be- 
gun in  Cuba  and  an  honorable  discharge  of  the 
promises  made  to  our  struggling  neighbor.  The 
flag  of  an  independent  republic  floats  over  Ha- 
vana to-day,  and  all  men  know  that  we  have 
kept  faith  with  the  Cuban  people.  Leaving  the 
details  to  engineers,  he  has  cut  as  by  a  single 
stroke  the  Panama  Canal  through  mountains  of 
prejudice  and  centuries  of  ignorance.  In  the 
far  Philippines  our  flag  floats,  a  guarantee  of 
redemption,  pacification  and  development.  His 
conception  of  duty  has  led  him  into  difficult 

135 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

places  in  dealing  with  the  internal  affairs  of 
our  own  country ;  he  has  met  every  issue  bravely 
and  ably  and  demonstrated  not  only  that 
prompt  and  decided  action  is  often  the  highest 
expression  of  conservatism,  but  that  it  is  safe  to 
trust  the  impulse  of  a  man  who  is  essentially 
and  instinctively  honest. 

Fellow  countrymen,  after  nearly  four  years 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  we  find  the  army  and 
navy  on  a  better  footing,  our  trade  expanded, 
the  country  at  peace  and  prosperous  and  our 
flag  respected  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
The  American  people  will  not  withhold  from 
him  the  applause  of  manly  hearts.  I  am  proud 
that  my  State,  the  Empire  State  of  the  South, 
shares  in  the  glory  of  his  achievements,  as  it  will 
share  in  their  benefits. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  the  section  from 
which  I  come  to  you  is,  as  a  section,  in  sjonpathy 
with  your  political  party.  But  I  am  as  sure  as 
that  I  stand  here  that  the  great  majority  of  in- 
telligent business  men  in  the  South  are  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  controlling  principles  of  your 
platform  and  opposed  to  those  of  your  oppo- 
nents as  last  declared.  And  I  am  equally  sure 
that  they  recognize  -  and  respect  the  fearless 
honesty  of  your  leader.  Headlines  are  not  his- 
tory, nor  does  the  passionate  partisan  write  the 

136 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

final  verdict  of  a  great  people.  History,  de- 
spite the  venom  of  the  small  politician,  will  do 
him  the  justice  to  record  that  he  has  gone 
further  than  any  man  who  has  occupied  the 
White  House  since  the  Civil  War  to  further 
the  vital  interests  of  the  South.  The  standard 
of  appointments  has  been  the  same  for  Georgia 
as  for  New  York.  He  has  insisted  on  efficiency 
and  integrity  as  the  chief  tests.  North  and 
South  alike.  Of  the  thousand  or  more  original 
post-office  appointments  in  Georgia  under  his 
administration,  not  one  has  within  my  knowl- 
edge been  criticized  by  even  the  unfriendly  and 
partisan  press  of  the  State.  A  Southern  man, 
General  Wright,  by  his  appointment  holds  the 
honor  of  this  country  in  trust  in  the  far  Philip- 
pines and  on  him  your  President  relies  for  the 
advancement  and  development  of  the  7,000,000 
people  who  are  there  working  out  their  desti- 
nies. Two  judges  of  first  instance,  one  a  Dem- 
ocrat and  one  a  Republican,  and  both  from 
Georgia,  are  there  by  his  appointment  to  ad- 
minister the  laws.  In  the  army  there  and  here, 
in  the  navy  and  in  all  the  divisions  of  the  civil 
government  Southern  men  have  felt  the  friend- 
ly touch  of  his  hand.  The  character  of  these 
appointments  and  the  whole  policy  give  the  lie 
to  those  designing  knaves  who  charge  him  with 

137 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

stirring  up  strife  between  races  and  arraying 
section  against  section.  "I  am  proud  of  your 
great  deeds ;  for  you  are  my  people."  This  was 
his  greeting  to  a  Southern  audience,  and  no 
honest  man  doubts  that  he  meant  it. 

The  South  shares  in  the  magnificent  pros- 
perity which  our  great  country  has  achieved 
under  the  RepubHcan  party.  Especially  has 
she  felt  the  beneficial  effect  of  your  policies 
during  the  last  eight  years ;  and  the  hardest  fact 
your  opponents  have  to  contend  with  is  the  fact 
that  your  financial  policy  has  been  tested  and 
found  to  be  sound  and  efficient.  They  have 
sufficed  for  eight  years  at  least,  and  the  Demo- 
cratic partisan  who  has  twice  in  that  time  been 
led  captive  behind  the  silver  car  of  Bryan  must 
be  optimistic  beyond  expression  if  he  believes 
that  the  country  will  suffer  alarm  over  the  pros- 
pect of  four  years  more  of  prosperity.  The 
South  deals  in  cotton  goods,  cottonseed  prod- 
ucts, coal,  iron,  oil  and  lumber,  and  business 
enterprises  in  connection  with  these  and  other 
industries  have  increased  and  multiplied.  Trav- 
eling from  Washington  to  Macon,  one  is  never 
off  a  first-class  railroad  nor  long  out  of  sight 
of  the  smoke  of  a  mill.  The  people  who  con- 
duct these  and  kindred  enterprises,  who  are 
raising  cotton  at  from  10  to  16  cents  a  pound, 

138 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

wheat  at  from  75  cents  to  $1  a  bushel,  whose 
coal,  iron  and  lumber  are  in  demand  through- 
out the  world,  whose  home  market  is  assured, 
and  whose  lands  are  rapidly  increasing  in  value, 
are  not  alarmed  over  the  prospect  of  another 
Repubhcan  victory  under  Roosevelt.  They  are 
not  alarmed  over  the  digging  of  a  canal  at  Pan- 
ama that  will  give  them  direct  communication 
with  five  or  six  hundred  millions  of  people  who 
need  the  products  of  their  fields  and  factories. 
Nor  are  they  alarmed  that  increased  railway 
and  river  transportation  will  be  required  to 
move  these  products  to  Southern  ports,  or  that 
from  these  ports,  under  a  Republican  adminis- 
tration, yellow  fever,  the  South's  dread  enemy, 
has  been  banished,  millions  saved  annually  to 
the  taxpayer  and  the  business  year  raised  from 
nine  months  to  twelve. 

The  prosperity  of  the  South  is  wrapped  up 
in  the  policies  of  the  Republican  party,  and  the 
Southern  people  are  beginning  to  realize  it. 
Southern  business  sentiment  indicates  an  in- 
creasing distrust  of  the  policies  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  In  1896  Georgia,  accustomed  to 
enormous  Democratic  majorities,  gave  94,000 
votes  for  Bryan  and  60,000  for  McKinley. 
North  Carolina  cast  174,000  votes  for  Bryan 
and   155,000   for   McKinley.    Virginia   gave 

139 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

154,000  votes  for  Bryan  and  135,000  for  Mc- 
Kinley.  And  this  was  according  to  Demo- 
cratic counts.  Maryland  and  West  Virginia 
cast  Republican  majorities  in  both  1896  and 
1900.  In  Virginia,  Georgia  and  North  Caro- 
lina in  1900  12  to  15  per  cent,  of  the  people 
who  had  voted  in  1896  stayed  away  from  the 
polls  and  sacrificed  their  last  opportunity  to 
worship  the  "popular  idol."  An  analysis  of 
election  returns  shows  that  the  distrust  of  Dem- 
ocracy was  most  pronounced  and  conspicuous 
in  centres  of  trade,  manufactures  and  com- 
merce. 

Fellow  countrymen,  we  of  the  South  believe 
in  Roosevelt  and  in  his  ability  to  meet  every  is- 
sue at  home  and  abroad  triumphantly.  We 
believe  that  he  is  animated  by  a  spirit  of  pa- 
triotism as  broad  and  as  bright  as  has  ever 
streamed  from  the  White  House  over  our  be- 
loved country ;  and  we  believe  that  when  he  has 
fulfilled  his  mission,  he,  the  son  of  the  North 
and  South,  will  carry  with  him  the  conscious- 
ness that  Fatherland  and  Motherland,  once  di- 
vorced in  sadness,  through  him  and  because  of 
him,  have  been  drawn  together  again  in  the 
bonds  of  the  old  affection.  And  we  believe  that 
when  he  goes,  at  length,  into  the  retirement  of 
private  life  he  will  go  beloved  of  all  patriotic 

140 


HARRY   STILWELL   EDWARDS 

Americans,  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf,  and  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  Mr.  Chairman,  in  behalf  of 
the  Motherland,  I  second  the  nomination  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt. 


141 


Address  by  Eoo-Gov.  William  O.  Bradley,  of 
Kentucky,  in  seconding  President  Roose- 
velt's nomination: 

The  Republican  party  has  made  no  mistakes, 
therefore  it  has  no  apologies  to  offer.  It  has 
broken  no  promises,  therefore  it  enters  no  plea 
of  confession  and  avoidance.  It  offers  no  guar- 
antee for  the  future  save  the  record  of  its  past. 
It  points  to  an  enormously  increased  com- 
merce, at  home  and  abroad.  To  free  homes 
given  to  free  people.  To  a  protective  tariff 
which  has  multiplied  manufactories,  furnished 
employment  for  milUons  of  freemen  and  given 
us  an  unequalled  market  at  home  and  abroad. 
To  the  best  system  of  finance  known  to  man. 
To  a  war  waged  to  drive  the  tyrant  from  Cuba, 
and  a  promise,  faithfully  kept,  to  give  to  the 
people  of  the  island  a  stable  form  of  govern- 
ment. To  an  improved  army  and  navy  whose 
deeds  of  valor  have  added  imperishable  glory 
to  American  arms.  To  the  erection  of  churches 
and  schoolhouses  and  the  inauguration  of  civil 
government  in  the  Philippines.  To  the  uni- 
versal prosperity  now  prevailing  throughout 
the  Republic.  To  a  generous  system  of  pen- 
sions, provided  for  those  who  fought,  and  the 

143 


WILLIAM    O.    BRADLEY 

families  of  those  m4io  died,  that  the  Union 
might  be  preserved.  To  the  most  gigantic  re- 
bellion of  all  time  courageously  met  and  com- 
pletely subdued.  To  the  shackles  of  bondmen 
melted  in  the  red  flames  of  war,  and  to  stars 
preserved,  and  yet  others  fixed,  in  the  firma- 
ment of  freedom. 

We  cannot  stand  at  the  base  of  Bunker  Hill 
Monument,  as  prophesied  by  Toombs,  and  call 
the  roll  of  our  slaves,  but  we  can  stand  on  any 
spot  of  the  earth  and  call  the  long  roll  of  Re- 
publican statesmen  aand  soldiers,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished and  illustrious  that  the  nation  has 
produced,  who  rendered  impossible  the  fulfill- 
ment of  that  prediction. 

For  nearly  half  a  century  the  record  of  the 
Republican  party  has  been  so  interwoven  with 
the  country's  history  that  each  is  a  part  of  the 
other,  and  neither  can  be  written  without  in- 
cluding the  other.  Indeed,  during  that  time 
the  Republican  party  has  been  the  country.  In 
diplomacy,  in  progress,  in  the  arts  and  sciences, 
in  prosperity  and  adversity,  in  peace  and  war, 
at  home  and  abroad,  on  land  and  sea,  the  Re- 
publican party  has  been  true  to  every  trust, 
equal  to  every  emergency,  has  continually  ele- 
vated and  advanced  the  standard  of  American 
honor  and  glory,  and  now  proclaims  to  the 

144 


AVILLIA^r   O.    BRADLEY 

world  that  in  the  lexicon  of  patriotic  endeavor 
and  achievement  there  is  no  such  word  as  "fail." 

And  during  all  these  eventful  years  the 
Democratic  party  has  resisted  every  step  of  ad- 
vancement and  progress.  It  has  been  a  stupid 
objector,  a  miserable  malcontent  and  a  common 
scold.  For  two  Presidential  terms  it  adminis- 
tered public  affairs,  and  during  each  crippled 
commerce,  unsettled  and  decreased  values,  par- 
alyzed industries,  closed  manufactories  and 
made  it  necessary  for  public  charity  to  provide 
food  for  the  starving  unemployed.  It  has  ex- 
changed its  time-honored  principles  for  dan- 
gerous heresies,  and  betrayed  its  leaders  until 
it  is  without  a  leader  and  in  anxious  search  of  a 
platform.  It  has  abandoned  its  Moses,  and  is 
unable  to  discover  a  Joshua.  It  does  not  cer- 
tainly know  what  it  wants,  and  if  it  did,  would 
not  know  where  to  find  it.  It  does  not  know 
what  it  is  for,  and  if  it  did,  would  not  know 
how  to  express  it.  It  does  not  know  what  to 
do,  and  if  it  did,  would  not  know  how  to  do  it. 

Men  of  the  North,  we  come  from  the  battle- 
field consecrated  to  freedom  with  the  blood  of 
your  brave  sons.  We  are  the  custodians  of  your 
patriot  dead,  and  each  year  commemorate  their 
deeds  and  decorate  their  graves  with  flowers. 
In  their  names,  and  by  their  memories,  the  dis- 

14$ 


AVILLIAM    O.    BRADLEY 

franchised  South  appeals  to  you  for  justice. 
Shall  it  be  said  that  your  sons  marched  and 
fought  and  died  in  vain?  Shall  it  be  said  that 
a  nation  can  exist  part  slave  and  part  free?  Are 
people  free  who  are  forced  to  bear  the  burden, 
and  yet  denied  the  highest  privilege  of  citizen- 
ship? If  it  be  true  that  warrant  may  not  be 
found  in  the  Constitution  to  prevent  disfran- 
chisement, then  we  beg  that  you  no  longer  per- 
mit the  disfranchised  and  oppressed  to  be  esti- 
mated for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  elec- 
toral strength  of  their  oppressors.  Though  the 
grape  is  crushed,  and  the  grain  is  ground,  they 
produce  neither  wine  nor  bread  for  the  perse- 
cuted men  of  the  South. 

Surrounded  by  difficulties,  striving  in  vain  to 
be  free,  they  instinctively  turn  to  the  brave, 
true  man  who  has  said  that  he  would  not  close 
the  door  of  hope  on  a  struggling  race.  The 
Southern  Republicans  are  devoted  to  him,  and 
will  follow  him  with  all  the  affection  and  en- 
thusiasm with  which  the  "Old  Guard"  followed 
Napoleon.  They  have  unshaken  faith  in  his 
superb  courage,  even-handed  justice  and  un- 
sullied honor. 

We  have  not  forgotten  how,  when  the  war 
clouds  himg  dark  in  the  nation's  horizon,  he 
sacrificed  office,  and  left  a  happy  home  and  a 

146 


WILLIAM   O.    BRADLEY 

beloved  wife  and  children,  to  bare  his  bosom  in 
the  storm  of  battle.  The  same  patriotism  and 
courage  that  inspired  him  then  have  animated 
him  throughout  his  administration.  When 
others  stood  appalled  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  strike,  he  cheerfully,  and  with  alacrity, 
assumed  a  responsibility  not  officially  incum- 
bent upon  him,  and,  bravely  springing  into  the 
breach,  succeeded  in  procuring  a  settlement 
that  brought  tranquility  to  the  representatives 
of  capital  and  smiles  and  sunshine  into  the  faces 
and  homes  of  the  humble  laborers.  He  unhesi- 
tatingly measured  swords  with  the  giant  cor- 
poration which  threatened  the  people  with 
wrong  and  oppression,  and  brought  it  into  sub- 
jection. He  knows  how  and  when  to  plan,  and, 
better  still,  how  and  when  to  execute.  Alert  of 
mind,  he  has  quickly  seized  every  opportunity. 
In  the  procurement  of  concessions  for  the  Pan- 
ama Canal  he  accomplished  more  in  a  few  hours 
than  his  predecessors  accomplished  in  more 
than  a  hundred  years.  He  did  not  attempt  to 
unloose,  he  cut  the  Gordian  knot. 

His  enemies  say  that  he  cannot  be  trusted; 
but  the  people  know  that  one  who  always  does 
the  right  thing  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right 
way  is  entitled  to  their  implicit  confidence.  His 
enemies  say  that  he  is  unsafe.  His  record  proves 

147 


WILLIAM    O.    BRADLEY 

that  he  is  unsafe  only  to  the  lawless,  the  trick- 
ster, the  "grafter"  and  those  who  deny  equal 
protection  of  the  law  to  any  class  of  American 
citizens.  But  in  the  discharge  of  the  great  trusts 
devolved  upon  him  he  has  proved  a  harbor  of 
safety.  His  enemies  predicted  that  he  would 
involve  the  nation  in  war;  but  all  his  victories 
have  been  those  of  diplomacy  and  peace,  and 
to-day  he  enjoys  the  respect  and  friendship  of 
every  foreign  power. 

He  has  not  been  the  pliable  instrument  of 
any  man  of  set  of  men.  He  is  the  creator,  not 
the  creature,  of  public  sentiment.  He  is  not 
controlled  by  popular  clamor,  but  hews  to  the 
line,  let  the  chips  fall  where  they  may.  He  is 
not  a  laggard,  a  time  server  or  an  idle  dreamer. 
He  loses  no  opportunity  on  account  of  timid 
doubt  or  annoying  hesitation.  He  is  not  a  fol- 
lower, but  every  inch  a  leader.  He  is  not  an 
imitator,  but  thoroughly  original,  guided  alone 
by  a  clear  conception  of  right  and  the  genius  of 
common  sense.  He  boldly  and  fearlessly  ad- 
vances; he  never  sounds  the  retreat.  Imbued 
with  never-failing  courage,  combined  with 
sound  and  conservative  judgment;  brilliant  as 
a  meteor,  yet  steady  and  certain  as  the  sun  in  its 
course ;  gifted  with  broad  and  intelligent  states- 
manship; fixed  in  lofty  purpose,  he  is  the  em- 

148 


WILLIA^kl   O.    BRADLEY 

bodiment  of  iVmerican  ideas,  American  vigor 
and  the  most  exalted  type  of  American  man- 
hood. He  was  born  to  fulfil  a  mission.  That 
mission,  in  part  accomplished,  will  be  completed 
in  coming  years,  and  his  name  shall  go  ringing 
down  the  centuries  with  those  of  the  immortal 
few  "who  were  not  born  to  die." 

In  Kentucky  we  have  "contended  against 
principalities  and  powers  and  the  rulers  of  dark- 
ness." We  have,  in  truth,  fought  with  all  man- 
ner of  beasts,  not  at  Ephesus — ^but  at  Frank- 
fort. We  are  nerving  ourselves  for  the  coming 
conflict,  and  in  November  next  hope  to  break 
the  chains  which  partisan  legislation  has  thrown 
around  us,  and  restore  freedom  to  the  State 
which  gave  birth  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and  holds 
within  its  bosom  the  ashes  of  Henry  Clay. 


149 


Address  by  Joseph  B.  Cotton,  of  Minnesota, 
in  seconding  President  Roosevelt's  nomina- 
tion: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
vention :  Responsive  to  the  swelling  chorus  of 
millions  of  voices  from  all  over  the  Republic, 
we  are  here  to  name  as  our  standard  bearer  the 
gifted  son  of  the  Empire  State,  who  has  in  his 
makeup  all  the  resolute  spirit  and  vigor  of  the 
imperial  West  and  in  whose  veins  courses  the 
rich,  warm  blood  of  the  dauntless  Southland. 
Nominating  and  seconding  speeches  here  are  of 
no  moment,  for  his  nomination  has  already  been 
made  by  the  American  people  themselves.  We 
have  only  to  select  his  running  mate,  proclaim 
the  doctrines  of  our  faith,  and  go  forth  and 
overwhelm  once  more  the  cohorts  of  a  dis- 
tracted, distempered  and  dismembered  Democ- 
racy. 

Our  Democratic  friends  in  this  year  of  grace 
are  destined  to  be  mere  idle  dreamers  and  only 
seers  of  visions.  Dissentious,  they  lack  faith 
and  have  no  issue.  Why,  just  now  they  are 
trying  to  let  go  of  the  "Orator  of  the  Platte" 
and  his  fustian  "cross  of  gold."    They  now  say 

151 


JOSEPH   B.    COTTON 

that  "free  silver"  is  dead  because  the  Almighty- 
put  too  much  gold  in  the  lap  of  old  Mother 
Earth.  Concealing  their  real  purpose,  they  no 
longer  openly  champion  free  trade.  They 
clamor  only  for  a  Republican  revision  of  the 
Dingley  tariff.  Has  it  come  to  this  that,  with 
Chamberlain  of  England,  they  are  at  last 
openly  become  Protectionists?  Overwhelmed 
by  the  rebuke  of  the  people,  they  now  profess 
to  be  really  anxious  to  keep  the  American  flag 
where  it  is,  regardless  and  unmindful  of 
whether  the  Constitution  follows  the  flag  or  the 
flag  follows  the  Constitution.  Truly,  can  any 
good  thing  come  out  of  this  Democratic  chaos 
and  reluctant  acquiescence  in  the  triumph  of 
Republican  policies?  In  fifty  history-making, 
creative  years  what  policies,  domestic  or  for- 
eign, fiscal  or  industrial,  expansive  or  construc- 
tive, has  the  Democratic  party  embodied  into 
the  national  thought  or  woven  into  the  fabric 
of  the  Republic?  An  obstructionist  always,  it 
has  been  a  participant,  in  spite  of  itself,  in  a 
national  glory  and  a  greatness  to  which  it  has 
long  since  ceased  to  contribute.  Our  virile 
young  nation  presses  on  with  undying  energy. 
Its  footprints  are  everywhere.  It  impresses  its 
character  upon  every  land.  It  is  unthinkable 
that  at  the  very  threshold  of  our  world-work  the 

152 


JOSEPH   B.    COTTON 

American  citizen  will  again  experiment  and  im- 
peril our  all  by  turning  over  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment to  an  inconstant,  incapable  and  inert 
Democracy.  To  fulfil  the  Republic's  mighty 
destiny,  the  guiding,  shaping,  controlling  spirit 
must  and  will  be  the  Republican  party. 

The  Republican  party  has  had,  and  ever  will 
have,  a  glorious  mission.  It  has  always  been  a 
party  of  action.  Its  promises  have  always  been 
crystallized  into  exact  performance.  For  fifty 
years  it  has  labored  to  advance  the  substantial 
progress  of  all  the  American  people.  It  is  mak- 
ing of  America  the  dominant  world  power.  It 
has  written  into  law  the  promises  of  fifty  years 
in  respect  of  an  isthmian  canal.  It  has  built 
up  and  firmly  established,  by  protective  poli- 
cies, a  nation  which  must  eventually  secure,  for 
the  surplus  products  and  industry  of  her  peo- 
ple, the  markets  of  all  the  earth.  Its  thought 
is  along  constructive  lines  and  for  the  expan- 
sion requisite  to  meet  the  nation's  industrial 
needs  rather  than  for  Democratic  isolation.  It 
has  built  up  American  industries,  protected 
American  labor  and  safeguarded  the  American 
home.  It  has  permanently  secured  the  nation 
upon  the  gold  standard,  the  standard  of  stabil- 
ity and  enlightened  civilization.  In  the  olden 
day  the  Crusader,  armor-clad,  rode  valiantly 

153 


JOSEPH    B.    COTTON 

away  to  rescue  the  Holy  Land  from  ruthless 
devastation.  So,  in  this  our  day,  the  Repub- 
lican party  is  carrying  forward  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  for  the  uplifting  of  mankind  and  the 
supremacy  of  a  civilization  which  finds  its  high- 
est type  in  our  glorious  American  Republic. 

Mr.  Chairman:  The  great  Northwest, 
whence  I  hail,  teems  with  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  enthusiastic  Republicans.  You  know 
their  worth  and  their  fealty.  On  their  behalf  I 
am  commissioned  to  second  the  nomination  of 
their  choice  for  President  of  these  United 
States.  We  need  and  demand  to-day  a  wise 
and  dauntless  mariner  to  take  our  soundings 
and  shape  our  course.  In  this  history-making 
hour,  at  the  dawn  of  a  century  big  with  the  po- 
tentialities of  individual  and  national  life,  when 
the  Republic  advances  full  speed  upon  a  future 
we  cannot  know,  in  all  the  excitement  of  the  in- 
dividual struggle  for  wealth  and  self-aggran- 
dizement, in  the  midst  of  tendencies  toward  mu- 
nicipal and  governmental  corruption,  and  when 
keenest  minds  seem  largely  bent  upon  profit 
without  recompense,  all  bom  of  an  inherent 
weakness  which  cannot  be  ignored  but  must 
be  met,  we  have  only  to  name  our  choice 
for  President  for  all  the  world  to  know 
that  his  name  is  a  synonym  for  courage,  for 

154 


JOSEPH   B.    COTTON 

untiring  energy,  for  loyalty  to  principle,  for 
uprightness,  for  rugged  honesty.  No  words  of 
any  man  are  needed  to  tell  you  that  he  is  pre- 
eminently qualified  to  be  our  inspiring  leader. 
We  are  proud  of  his  distinguished  career  and 
of  his  great  service  to  the  nation.  We  indorse 
his  unswerving  devotion  to  the  highest  ideals  of 
government  and  his  stalwart  Americanism.  We 
support  him  for  his  lofty  character,  for  his 
mani  f  est  genius,  for  his  splendid  personality,  and 
for  his  superb  moral  courage.  Four  years  ago 
the  Republican  party  placed  him  beside  the  im- 
mortal McKinley,  and  with  such  standard  bear- 
ers, with  such  a  cause,  we  marched  to  a  glorious 
victory.  When  the  assassin's  ignoble  work  was 
accomplished,  and,  amidst  the  nation's  tears, 
showered  with  the  nation's  love,  the  gentle  Mc- 
Kinley passed  to  the  ages  and  was  crowned 
with  the  wreath  of  immortal  fame,  the  intrepid 
and  aggressive  Roosevelt  faced  and  was  equal 
to  the  grave  responsibilities  of  the  Presidency. 
He  has  kept  the  faith.  By  force  of  his  charac- 
ter and  his  works  he  has  extended,  at  home  and 
abroad,  the  influence  and  greatness  of  the  Re- 
public. His  name  has  come  to  be  a  symbol 
everywhere  of  American  manhood,  American 
valor,  American  honesty  and  American  su- 
premacy. 

155 


JOSEPH   B.    COTTON 

Obeying  a  mandate  both  pleasing  and  su- 
preme, on  behalf  of  the  great  State  of  Minne- 
sota and  the  mighty  empire  of  the  Northwest, 
whose  growth  and  prosperity  will  ever  keep  full 
pace  with  the  giant  tread  of  the  nation  itself,  I 
desire  to  second  the  nomination  of  that  intrepid 
leader,  that  potent  statesman,  that  master  work- 
man upon  the  greater  Republic,  that  tried, 
trusted  and  incomparable  public  servant — the 
President  now,  the  President  again  to  be — 
Theodore  Roosevelt. 


156 


Address  hy  Harry  S.  Cummings  (colored),  of 
Maryland,  in  seconding  President  Roose- 
velt's nomination: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Delegates  of  the  Re- 
publican National  Convention,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen:  For  the  distinguished  honor  of 
seconding  the  nomination  of  that  grand  type  of 
the  American  citizen,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  I 
am  profoundly  grateful. 

Fortunate  indeed  is  it  for  this  government 
that  it  has  had,  during  the  eight  years  just 
passed,  a  political  organization  such  as  ours,  to 
meet  face  to  face  with  undaunted  courage  and 
determination  the  many  perplexing  questions 
which  have  arisen  during  that  period. 

Equally  fortunate  has  been  our  party  to  have 
had  within  its  ranks  during  this  crucial  period 
such  men  as  our  able,  wise  and  patriotic  Mc- 
Kinley,  of  beloved  memory,  and  our  capable, 
courageous  and  aggressive  Roosevelt,  upon 
whose  youthful  though  ample  shoulders  the 
mantle  of  the  great  McKinley  fell. 

Whether  the  questions  affected  our  internal 
or  external  relations,  they  have  been  boldly  met 
and  wisely  solved.  We  have  carried  to  the  Fili- 

157 


HARRY   S.    CUMMINGS 

pino,  the  Porto  Rican  and  the  Cuban  the  torch 
of  Hght  and  inteUigence,  relieved  them  from 
the  burdens  and  oppression  of  despotic  rule, 
established  civil  government  among  them,  and 
are  teaching  them  the  blessings  of  liberty  and 
independence.  The  Panama  Canal,  "The  Key 
to  the  Universe,"  the  construction  of  which  has 
for  centuries  been  the  dream  and  fancy  of 
more  than  one  government,  has,  under  the 
prompt  and  decisive  action  of  this  administra- 
tion, been  taken  from  the  realm  of  cloudland 
and  dreamland,  and  its  completion  in  the  near 
future  has  become  a  certain  and  fixed  fact. 

The  wise  leadership  of  our  party  has  kept  so 
well  adjusted  our  tariff  and  currency  legisla- 
tion that  prosperity  abounds  in  the  land,  labor 
is  plentiful,  the  laborer  is  well  paid  and  con- 
tented, capital  multiplies  and  seeks  additional 
outlets  for  new  investments  and  enterprises.  In 
a  word,  we  have  given  a  full  and  complete  re- 
port of  the  stewardship  committed  to  our  care 
during  the  last  four  years.  It  becomes  the  duty 
of  this  convention  to  name  a  general  who  we 
hope  and  believe  will  lead  the  great  Republican 
host  to  victoiy  in  the  coming  election,  a  man 
who  will  in  every  way  measure  up  to  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  high  office  of  President  of  this 
country.    Such  a  one  in  the  person  of  our  Chief 

158 


HARRY   S.    CUMMINGS 

Executive  has  been  ably  and  eloquently  placed 
before  you,  and  heartily  do  we  all  indorse  what 
has  been  said. 

"By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  brings  to  his  party  and  the  na- 
tion at  the  close  of  his  administration  the  prec- 
ious fruits  of  three  years'  able  and  faithful 
service.  The  solemn  promise  made  by  him  when 
gloom  and  distress  overshadowed  the  nation, 
when  stout  hearts  grew  faint,  when  fears  and 
misgivings  were  abroad  in  the  land,  when  the 
nation  bowed  in  tears  for  her  fallen  hero — that 
promise,  made  at  a  most  trying  time  in  our 
country's  life,  has  been  kept  to  the  letter,  and 
he  brings  as  an  evidence  of  such  the  plans  and 
purposes  of  his  martyred  predecessor  fully  de- 
veloped and  completed.  He  is  above  all  things 
a  true,  honest,  earnest,  patriotic  American  citi- 
zen. He  is  a  leader  of  unflinching  courage — a 
man  of  wisdom — a  man  of  action.  He  is  open 
and  frank,  free  from  intrigue  or  concealment. 
In  his  life  and  walk  and  conduct  he  stands  un- 
approached  and  unapproachable.  He  is  a 
broad  man,  broad  in  intellect,  broad  in  sympa- 
thies, broad  in  soul ;  he  lends  a  listening  ear  to 
the  cry  of  the  downtrodden  and  oppressed,  and 
with  strong  and  ready  arm  encircling  the  weak 
and  helpless  he  bids  them  rise  and  hope  and  live. 

159 


HARRY   S.    CUMMINGS 

He  is  a  just  man,  and  believes  that  a  man 
should  be  judged  by  merit,  and  merit  alone, 
and  that  the  just  rewards  of  faithful  and  pa- 
triotic service  should  be  withheld  from  no  one, 
for  any  cause  whatever.  With  a  vision  un- 
clouded by  bias  or  prejudice  he  sees  through  the 
outer  clay,  clad  in  different  hues,  the  man  with- 
in, and  there  beholds  the  image  of  the  divine 
Master  indicating  the  Fatherhood  of  Good  and 
the  Brotherhood  of  Man. 

Criticism — bitter,  severe,  unreasonable — has 
only  served  to  make  him  the  more  devoted  to 
his  country's  welfare.  He  believes  that  cor- 
ruption and  dishonesty  in  private  life  and  in 
public  office  should  be  unearthed,  exposed  and 
punished,  no  matter  who  the  guilty  party  may 
be  or  how  high  in  official  life  he  may  stand.  He 
believes  that  respect  for  and  obedience  to  law 
are  the  foundation  upon  which  this  government 
must  rest,  and  that  the  violation  of  the  oath  of 
office  is  little  less  than  treason.  He  believes 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
every  amendment  thereof  should  be  rigidly  en- 
forced, and  that  its  violation  by  whatever  sub- 
terfuges or  evasiveness  of  expression  should  be 
condemned  and  remedied.  He  is,  for  these 
good  and  sufficient  reasons,  the  man  whom  the 

160 


HAKRY   S.    CUMMINGS 

people  of  every  section  and  in  every  walk  of 
life  want  for  this  high  office. 

First  of  all,  the  powerful  Christian  and 
moral  sentiment  of  the  nation  demands  his 
nomination,  and  every  Christian  and  moral 
agency  will  be  exercised  for  his  election.  The 
laboring  interest  demands  him.  The  farmer, 
as  with  happy  heart  he  gathers  in  his  bounteous 
harvest,  stands  ready  to  do  battle  for  his  re- 
turn. The  miner,  who  in  contentment  digs 
away  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  sees  in  him  his 
salvation  from  oppression  and  encroachment. 
The  business  man — the  capitalist — to  whom 
this  administration  has  brought  abundant  suc- 
cess eagerly  await  his  nomination.  So  surely 
as  he  is  nominated  by  this  convention  to-day 
so  surely  will  he  be  elected  by  the  people  in 
November. 

With  his  nomination  and  election,  what  an 
inspiring  prospect  opens  up  before  the  party 
and  the  nation!  With  it  will  come  new  efforts 
to  promote  a  greater  prosperity  and  a  larger 
measure  of  happiness  to  all  who  dwell  within 
our  borders.  With  it  will  come  that  calm  and 
peaceful  assurance  that,  while  prosperous, 
happy  and  contented  at  home,  a  wise,  safe  and 
skillful  diplomacy  guards  and  protects  our 
every  interest  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

i6i 


HARRY   S.    CUMMINGS 

And,  finally,  with  it  will  come  an  advanced  step 
toward  the  fulfilment  of  the  great  mission  of 
the  Republican  party.  And  that  mission  will 
not  be  performed  until  every  section  of  our 
Constitution  and  every  amendment  thereof 
shall  be  respected  and  made  effective,  and  un- 
til every  citizen  of  every  section,  of  every  race 
and  of  every  religion  shall  proclaim  in  one 
grand  chorus  of  that  Constitution,  "Thou  art 
my  shield  and  buckler." 

God  grant  that  in  our  party's  struggle  to 
reach  that  time  it  may  ever  have  a  man  to  place 
before  the  American  people  for  their  suffrage 
who  has  the  ability,  courage,  honesty  and  ag- 
gressiveness of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 


162 


MimuL. 


Address  by  Senator  Jonathan  P.  Dolliver,  of 
Iowa,  in  nominating  Charles  Warren  Fair- 
hanks  for  Vice-President. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  The  Repub- 
lican National  Convention,  now  nearly  ready  to 
adjourn,  has  presented  to  the  world  a  moral 
spectacle  of  extraordinary  interest  and  signifi- 
cance. It  is  a  fine  thing  to  see  thousands  of 
men,  representing  millions  of  people,  fighting 
in  the  political  arena  for  their  favorite  candi- 
dates, and  contending  valiantly  for  the  success 
of  contradictory  principles  and  conflicting  doc- 
trines. Out  of  such  a  contest,  with  its  noise  and 
declamations,  its  flying  banners,  its  thunder  of 
the  captains  and  the  shouting,  the  truth  often 
secures  a  vindication,  and  the  right  man  comes 
out  victorious.  Sometimes,  however,  wisdom  is 
lost  in  the  confusion,  and  more  than  once  we 
have  seen  the  claims  of  leadership  swallowed  up 
in  contention  and  strife. 

We  have  the  honor  to  belong  to  a  convention 
whose  constituency  in  every  State  and  Terri- 
tory and  in  the  islands  of  the  sea  has  done  its 
thinking  by  quiet  firesddes,  undisturbed  by 
clamor  of  any  sort,  and  has  simplified  our  re- 

163 


JONATHAN    P.   DOLLIVEB 

sponsibilities  by  the  unmistakable  terms  of  the 
credentials  which  we  hold  at  their  hands. 

At  intervals  of  four  years  I  followed  the 
banner  of  James  G.  Blaine  through  the  streets 
of  our  convention  cities,  from  Cincinnati  to 
Minneapolis,  and  did  my  full  share  to  see  that 
nobody  got  any  more  applause  than  the  great 
popular  leader  who  had  captured  my  enthusi- 
asm long  before  I  was  old  enough  to  vote.  Not 
even  his  defeat  served  to  diminish  the  hold 
which  our  champion  had  upon  the  hearts  of 
those  who  followed  him,  and  it  has  required  a 
good  deal  of  experience  to  enable  them  to  un- 
derstand the  lesson  of  his  defeat.  Other  con- 
ventions have  met  to  settle  the  fate  of  rival 
chieftains;  we  meet  to  record  the  judgment  of 
the  Republican  milHons  of  the  United  States. 

They  have  based  their  opinion  upon  the  facts 
of  the  case.  They  have  not  concluded  that  we 
have  the  greatest  President  of  the  United 
States  since  Washington.  They  know  how  to 
measure  the  height  and  depth  of  things  better 
even  than  Professor  Bryce,  when  he  deals  with 
superlatives  which  find  their  way  into  all  well- 
regulated  banquets  after  midnight.  They  have 
not  forgotten  the  grave  of  Lincoln,  which  has 
become  a  shrine  for  the  pilgrimage  of  the  hu- 
man race.    They  remember  still  the  day  when 

164 


JONATHAN    P.    DOLLIVEK 

the  Canon  of  Westminster  opened  the  doors  of 
that  venerable  monument  to  admit  the  name  of 
the  silent  American  soldier  into  the  household 
of  English-spoken  fame. 

They  have  passed  no  vainglorious  judgment 
upon  the  career  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  They 
have  studied  it  with  sympathetic  interest  from 
his  boyhood,  as  he  has  risen  from  one  station  of 
public  usefulness  to  another,  until  at  length, 
before  the  age  of  forty-five,  he  stands  upon  the 
highest  civic  eminence  known  among  men. 
Their  tears  fell  with  his  as  he  stood  in  the 
shadow  of  poor  McKinley's  death,  and  as  a 
part  of  his  oath  of  office  asked  the  trusted  coun- 
sellors who  stood  by  the  side  of  the  fallen  Presi- 
dent to  help  him  carry  forward  the  work  which 
he  had  left  unfinished,  and,  while  his  adminis- 
tration deserves  the  tribute  which  it  received  in 
this  convention  from  the  eloquent  lips  of  our 
temporary  chairman,  it  is  because  he  has  exe- 
cuted in  a  manly  way  the  purpose  of  the  Re- 
publican party  and  interpreted  aright  the  as- 
pirations of  the  American  people.  Nor  can 
there  be  a  doubt  that  if,  in  the  years  to  come, 
he  shall  walk  steadfastly  in  the  same  path,  he 
will  be  numbered  among  the  great  leaders  of 
the  people  who  have  given  dignity  and  influ- 
ence to  their  highest  office. 

165 


JONATHAN    P.    DOLLIVER 

But  the  judgment  of  the  Repubhcan  party 
is  not  only  united  upon  its  candidate — it  is 
unanimous  also  upon  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples for  which  it  stands.  I  think  the  conven- 
tion has  been  fortunate  in  harmonizing  the 
minor  differences  which  unavoidably  arise  in  a 
country  Hke  ours,  where  speech  is  free  and 
where  printing  is  free.  We  stand  together  on 
the  proposition  that  the  industrial  system  of  the 
United  States  must  not  be  undermined  by  a 
hostile  partisan  agitation,  and  that  whatever 
changes  are  necessary  in  our  laws  ought  to  be 
made  by  the  friends,  or  at  least  the  acquaint- 
ances, of  the  protective  tariff  system.  The 
things  upon  which  we  are  agreed  are  so  great 
and  the  things  about  which  we  differ  are  so 
small  that  we  are  able,  without  sacrificing  sin- 
cere Republican  convictions  anywhere,  to  unite 
as  one  man  in  defence  of  our  common  faith. 

The  rollcall  of  this  convention  is  a  reminder 
not  without  its  melancholy  suggestion  that  the 
veterans  of  Republican  leadership  are  trans- 
ferring the  responsibilities  which  they  have 
borne  to  the  generation  born  since  1850.  The 
children  of  the  men  who  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  Republican  party  are  here  to  begin  the 
celebration  of  its  fiftieth  anniversary.  A  heavy 
hand  has  been  laid  since  we  met  at  Philadel- 

166 


JONATHAN   P.   DOLLIVER 

phia  upon  the  men  who  guided  the  counsels  of 
the  party.  Nelson  Dingley,  whose  name  is  as- 
sociated in  immortal  reputation  with  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  miracles  which  opened  the 
new  century,  is  gone,  and  within  the  borders  of 
the  same  State  lies  all  that  is  mortal  of  Thomas 
B.  Reed,  who  put  an  end  to  anarchy  in  the 
American  House  of  Representatives.  Dear  old 
"Uncle  Mark"  Hanna,  whose  face  has  looked 
down  with  the  benediction  of  an  old  friend 
upon  our  deliberations,  we  shall  see  no  more. 
Within  the  last  few  days  we  buried  Matthew 
Stanley  Quay  in  the  bosom  of  the  common- 
wealth which  he  loved,  and  which,  in  spite  of 
the  malice  and  calumny  which  pursued  him 
while  he  lived,  never  failed  in  its  affectionate 
confidence  in  him,  while  over  the  whole  four 
years  has  hung  the  shadow  of  the  national  af- 
fliction which  left  the  American  people  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes. 

We  stand  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  era, 
and,  while  the  Republican  party  leans  upon  the 
counsel  of  its  old  leaders,  it  has  not  hesitated  to 
summon  to  the  responsibilities  of  public  life  the 
young  men  who  have  been  trained  under  their 
guidance  to  take  up  the  burdens  which  they  are 
ready  to  lay  down  and  finish  the  work  which 
comes  to  them  as  an  inheritance  of  patriotism 

167 


JONATHAN    P.   DOLLIVEE 

and  duty.  That  is  the  significance  of  the  nomi- 
nation of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and  that  is  the 
explanation  of  the  call  which  has  been  made  by 
the  Republican  party  without  a  dissenting  voice 
upon  Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  to  stand  by  the 
side  of  the  President  in  the  guidance  and  lead- 
ership of  the  Republican  party. 

While  he  has  not  sought  to  constrain  the 
judgment  of  the  convention,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, he  has  kept  himself  free  from  the  affec- 
tation which  undervalues  the  dignity  of  the 
second  office  in  the  gift  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, and  I  do  not  doubt  that  his  heart  has  been 
touched  by  the  voluntary  expression  of  univer- 
sal good  will  which  has  already  chosen  him  as 
one  of  the  standard  bearers  of  the  Republican 
party  of  the  United  States.  The  office  has 
sought  the  man,  and  he  will  bring  to  the  office 
the  commanding  personality  of  a  statesman 
equal  to  any  of  the  great  responsibiHties  which 
belong  to  our  public  affairs.  A  leader  of  the 
Senate,  the  champion  of  all  the  great  policies 
which  constitute  the  invincible  record  of  the 
Republican  party  during  the  last  ten  years,  his 
name  will  become  a  tower  of  strength  to  our 
cause,  not  only  in  his  own  State,  but  every- 
where throughout  the  country.  A  man  of  af- 
fairs, the  whole  business  community  shares  the 

168 


JONATHAN    P.   DOLLIVER 

confidence  which  his  political  associates  have  re- 
posed in  him  from  the  beginning  of  his  public 
life.  The  quiet,  undemonstrative,  popular 
opinion,  which  has  given  the  Republican  party 
a  platform  upon  which  all  Republicans  can 
stand,  with  no  dissenting  voice,  here  or  any- 
where, has  long  since  anticipated  the  action  of 
this  convention  in  adding  to  the  national  Re- 
publican ticket  the  name  of  Senator  Fairbanks, 
of  Indiana.  I  take  pleasure  in  presenting  this 
name,  honored  everywhere  throughout  the 
United  States,  as  our  candidate  for  Vice- 
President. 


169 


(Ajouum/m.l^^My^Mt 


Address  by  Senator  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  of 
New  York,  seconding  Senator  Fairbanks 
for  Vice-President: 

My  friend  wants  tol^now  if  I  have  had  my 
dinner,  but  what  I  am  about  to  say  is  in  be- 
half of  dinners  for  the  American  people. 
(Laughter  and  cries  of  "Good!") 

I  cannot  help  thinking,  in  listening  to  the 
eloquence  with  which  we  have  been  entertained 
this  morning,  what  will  be  the  difference  when 
our  Democratic  friends  meet  on  July  6  to  go 
through  with  their  duty  of  nominating  candi- 
dates and  adopting  a  platform.  We  here  have 
been  unanimous  upon  our  candidates,  all 
agreed  upon  our  principles,  all  recognizing  and 
applauding  our  great  statesmen,  living  and 
dead,  and  agreeing  with  them,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  that  convention,  there  will  be  the 
only  two  living  exponents  of  Democratic  prin- 
ciples. 

On  the  one  side  will  be  their  only  President 
rising  and  saying,  "Be  sane,"  while  on  the  other 
side,  in  opposition,  will  come  their  last  candi- 
date for  President,  saying,  "Be  Democrats!" 

171 


CHAUXCEY   M.   DEPEAV 

The  two  are  incompatible.  ( Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) 

I  present  two  thoughts  which  it  seems  to  me 
in  the  flood  of  oratory  have  been  passed  by. 
There  has  been  criticism  of  this  convention 
that  it  was  without  enthusiasm  and  per- 
functory, and  would  occupy  little  place  in  his- 
tory. But  this  convention  is  an  epoch-making 
convention,  because  it  marks  the  close  of  fifty 
years  of  the  life  of  the  Republican  party. 

That  fifty  years,  if  we  should  divide  recorded 
time  into  periods  of  half  a  century,  the  fifty 
years  from  1854  to  1904  would  concentrate 
more  that  has  been  done  in  this  world  for  the 
uplifting  of  humanity  than  all  the  half  cen- 
turies which  have  preceded. 

While  this  half  century  has  done  so  much  in 
electricity,  so  much  in  steam,  so  much  in  in- 
ventions, so  much  in  medicine,  so  much  in  sur- 
gery and  in  science,  its  one  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic will  be  that  it  was  the  half  century  of 
emancipation — emancipation  all  over  the  world, 
led  mainly  by  the  American  thought  and  the 
success  of  the  American  experiment. 

But  when  for  our  purpose  we  look  back  over 
the  accomplishment  of  this  half  century  we  find 
that  the  best  part  of  it,  that  which  has  made 
most  for  the  welfare  of  the  country,  most  for 

172 


CHAUNCEY   M.   DEPEW 

emancipation,  has  been  done  by  the  Republican 
party. 

Just  one  word  to  throw  the  picture  on  the 
wall.  In  1854  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
repealed,  and  the  territory  whose  purchase  is 
now  being  celebrated  at  St.  Louis  was  dedi- 
cated to  slavery,  and  in  1863  Abraham  Lincoln 
freed  the  slaves.    (Applause.) 

In  1854  James  Buchanan,  at  Ostend,  issued 
the  manifesto  to  buy  or  conquer  Cuba  for  slav- 
ery, and  in  1900  William  McKinley  set  up 
Cuba  as  an  independent  republic.   (Applause.) 

In  1854  the  first  cable  flashed  under  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  and  the  use  of  this  tremendous 
discovery  came  from  a  Republican  President, 
who  was  the  only  President  since  the  formation 
of  the  country  who  had  presided  over  the  des- 
tinies of  a  free  people,  with  freedom  in  the 
Constitution,  and  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence no  longer  a  living  lie. 

So  it  is  also  in  diplomacy.  Fifty  years  ago 
those  of  our  people  who  were  located  among  the 
semi-civilized  nations  of  Asia  and  Africa  placed 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  consuls 
of  Great  Britain  or  the  European  government 
most  influential  in  that  territoiy.  To-day  an 
American  fleet  appears  in  the  harbor  of  Tan- 
gier, and  the  Secretary  of  State  sends  the  thrill- 

173 


CHAUNCEY    M.   DEPEW 

ing  message,  "We  want  Perdicaris  alive  or  Rai- 
suli  dead. ' '    ( Cheers. ) 

Now,  it  was  only  sixty  years  ago,  ten  years 
preceding  the  birth  of  the  Republican  party, 
when  that  great  wit  and  great  writer,  Sydney 
Smith,  asked,  In  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe 
who  reads  an  American  book  or  goes  to  an 
American  play  or  looks  at  an  American  picture 
or  statue?  What  does  the  world  yet  owe  to 
American  physicians  and  surgeons?  What 
new  substances  have  their  chemists  discovered 
or  what  old  ones  have  they  analyzed?  What 
new  constellations  have  been  discovered  by  the 
telescopes  of  Americans?  What  have  they 
done  in  mathematics?  Who  drinks  out  of 
American  glasses  or  eats  from  American  plates 
or  wears  American  coats  or  gowns  or  sleeps  in 
American  blankets? 

The  answer  is  that  from  the  figures  coming 
yesterday  from  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  we  discovered  that  this  year  $450,- 
000,000  of  manufactured  articles  from  Ameri- 
can looms  and  factories  go  into  European  mar- 
kets to  compete  with  the  highly-organized  in- 
dustrial nations  of  the  world  in  their  own  mar- 
ket places.     (Applause.) 

An  American  can  start  and  go  around  the 
world  and  not  leave  his  country.    He  can  cross 

174 


CHAUNCEY   M.   DEPEW 

the  Pacific  to  Yokohama  in  a  Northern  Pa- 
cific steamer.  He  rides  through  Japan  and 
China  on  American  electrical  appliances. 
He  goes  six  thousand  miles  across  the  Siberian 
Railway  in  American  cars,  drawn  by  American 
locomotives.  In  Spain,  alongside  of  their  or- 
ange groves,  he  finds  California  and  Florida 
oranges.  In  France  he  drinks  wine,  labelled 
French,  which  has  come  from  San  Francisco. 
( Laughter  and  applause. )  He  crosses  the  Nile 
upon  a  bridge  made  in  Pittsburg.  ( Applause. ) 
In  an  English  hotel  he  goes  to  his  room  near  the 
roof  in  an  elevator  manufactured  in  New  York. 
His  feet  are  on  carpets  made  in  Yonkers.  On 
the  banks  of  the  Ganges  he  reads  his  cables  by 
an  electric  light  run  by  an  American  and  made 
in  America.  He  goes  under  old  London  in  tun- 
nels dug  and  run  by  American  machinery  and 
American  genius,  and  then  he  goes  to  New- 
castle and  finds  that  the  impossible  has  been 
profitably  accomplished,  and  coals — American 
coals — are  carried  to  Newcastle.  (Laughter 
and  applause.) 

Now,  my  friends,  while  we  present  the  posi- 
tive, the  convention,  which  meets  on  the  6th  of 
July  represents  that  element  unknown  hereto- 
fore in  American  politics,  the  opportunist.  It 
is  waiting  for  bankruptcy,  waiting  for  panic, 

175 


CHAUNCEY   M.    DEPEW 

waiting  for  industrial  depression,  waiting  for 
financial  distress. 

There  was  an  old  farmer  upon  the  Maine 
coast  who  owned  a  farm  with  a  rocky  ledge 
running  out  into  the  ocean  and  called  Hurricane 
Point.  On  it  ships  were  wrecked,  and  he  gath- 
ered his  harvest  from  the  wreckage,  and  in  his 
will  he  wrote :  "I  divide  my  farm  equally  among 
my  children,  but  Hurricane  Point  shall  be  kept 
for  all  of  you  forever,  for  while  the  winds  blow 
and  the  waves  roll  the  Lord  will  provide." 
(Great  laughter.)  But  we  have  put  a  light- 
house on  Hurricane  Point,  a  lighthouse  of  pro- 
tection, with  a  revolving  light,  shedding  golden 
beams  over  the  ocean,  and  American  commerce 
in  going  and  coming  is  absolutely  safe.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Time  eliminates  reputations.  One  or  two 
men  represent  a  period.  There  are  very  few 
statesmen  who  are  remembered  by  succeeding 
generations.  The  heroes  of  the  civil  war  on 
both  sides  are  reduced  in  popular  recollection 
to  two  names.  Issues  and  events,  which  make 
history,  bring  out  qualities  of  greatness  in  those 
specially  gifted  for  statesmanship  and  gov- 
ernment. The  constructive  genius  of  the  coun- 
try was  first  in  the  Federal,  then  in  the  Demo- 
cratic, then  in  the  Whig  and  for  the  past  half- 

176 


CHAUNCEY   M.   DEPEW 

century  in  the  Republican  Party.  This  is  the 
result :  In  our  first  era  the  leaders  were  Wash- 
ington, Hamilton  and  Adams,  Federalists;  in 
the  second  era,  Jefferson  and  Jackson,  Demo- 
crats; in  the  third  era,  Webster  and  Clay, 
Whigs;  in  the  fourth  and  most  productive  era 
of  all  that  makes  life  worth  living  and  citizen- 
ship valuable,  Lincoln,  Grant  and  McKinley, 
all  Republicans.     (Applause.) 

We  love  Roosevelt  because  of  his  "indiscre- 
tions." When  everybody  else  thought  it  fool- 
ish his  foresight  provided  powder  and  ball  for 
Dewey.  When  the  financial  world  said  it  was 
folly  to  enforce  the  laws  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  justified  the  wisdom  of  the 
President.  Who  calls  him  rash,  impetuous  and 
tumultuous?  It  is  the  statesmen  who  enacted 
the  Wilson  bill,  with  its  attendant  distress, 
bankruptcy  and  ruin ;  the  statesmen  who  would 
have  given  us  silver  at  16  to  1,  with  the  inevi- 
table collapse  of  our  home  industries  and  our 
foreign  markets ;  it  is  the  statesmen  who  would 
give  up  the  Philippines  and  would  have  lost  the 
opportunity  to  build  the  isthmian  canal  while 
discussing  questions  of  international  law  and 
constitutional  prerogatives.    ( Applause. ) 

To  Roosevelt's  "impulsiveness,"  "rashness" 
and  "indiscretions"  we  owe  the  settlement  of 

177 


CHAtJNCEY   M.   DEPEW 

the  coal  strike,  which,  if  continued,  would  have 
produced  among  a  freezing  people  in  the  great 
cities  and  among  millions  thrown  out  of  em- 
ployment, because  of  manufactories  shut  down, 
suffering,  riot  and  revolution.  We  owe  to 
Roosevelt's  "indiscretions,"  "rashness"  and 
"impetuosity"  the  removal  of  the  fear  and  the 
perils  of  gigantic  trusts  by  proving  that  they 
are  the  creatures  of  and  within  the  power  of  the 
law.  We  owe  to  Roosevelt's  "indiscretions," 
"rashness"  and  "impetuosity"  the  solution  of 
the  problem  of  400  years,  the  realization  of  the 
hope  of  the  statesmen  of  this  country  for  more 
than  a  half  of  a  century,  the  fruition  of  the 
dream  of  Columbus  and  the  welding  of  the 
East  and  the  West  and  gaining  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  the  Orient  for  our  commerce,  in  the 
concession  of  the  right  and  the  beginning  of  the 
work  of  the  construction  of  the  isthmian  canal. 
If,  as  our  opponents  say,  the  campaign  is 
Roosevelt,  we  follow  the  fortunes  of  our  young 
leader,  confident  of  victory.     (Applause.) 

And  now,  gentlemen,  it  seems  to  me  we  have 
not  attached  enough  importance  to  the  office 
of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  (Ap- 
plause.) It  was  not  so  among  the  fathers. 
Then  of  the  two  highest  potential  presidential 
possibilities,  one  took  the  Presidency,  the  other 

178 


CHAUNCEY   M.   DEPEW 

the  Vice-Presidency.  But  in  the  last  forty 
years  ridicule  and  caricature  have  placed  the 
office  almost  in  contempt.  Let  us  remember 
that  Thomas  Jefferson;  let  us  remember  that 
old  John  Adams ;  let  us  remember  that  John  C. 
Calhoun,  and  George  Clinton,  and  Martin  Van 
Buren  were  Vice-Presidents  of  the  United 
States. 

Eighty  milHons  of  people  want  for  Vice- 
President  a  presidential  figure  of  full  size.  He 
presides  over  the  Senate,  but  he  does  more  than 
that.  He  is  the  confidant  of  the  Senators.  He 
is  the  silent  member  of  every  committee.  He 
is  influential  in  that  legislation  which  originates 
and  which  is  shaped  in  the  Senate,  and  now  that 
we  have  become  a  world  power,  now  that 
treaties  make  for  either  our  prosperity,  our 
open  door  or  closed  harbors,  he  is  necessarily 
an  important  factor  in  the  machinery  of  the 
government.  By  the  tragic  death  of  McKin- 
ley  the  Vice-President  was  elevated  to  the  Pres- 
idency, and  to-day  for  the  first  time  we  have 
renominated  the  Vice-President  who  thus  came 
to  be  the  President.    (Applause.) 

All  that  has  been  said  here  about  Theodore 
Roosevelt  is  true ;  but  the  highest  tribute  to  him 
is  that  the  American  people  for  the  first  time 
unanimously   demand  that  a   Vice-President 

179 


CHAUNCEY    M.   DEPEW 

shall  be  the  elect  of  their  choice  for  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States. 

Now,  gentlemen,  it  is  my  privilege  in  looking 
for  Vice-Presidential  possibilities  to  announce 
what  you  all  know,  that  we  have  found  a  Vice- 
Presidential  candidate  of  full  Presidential  size. 
(Applause.)  Everybody  knows  that  if  the 
towering  figure  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  had 
been  out  of  this  canvass  one  of  the  promising 
candidates  before  this  convention  for  President 
of  the  United  States  would  have  been  Charles 
W.  Fairbanks.  (Applause.)  And  New  York, 
appreciating  his  great  ability  as  a  lawyer,  ap- 
preciating the  national  name  he  has  made  for 
himself  as  a  Senator,  appreciating  his  dignity, 
his  character  and  his  genius  for  public  affairs, 
seconds  the  nomination  of  Charles  W.  Fair- 
banks for  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 
(Prolonged  applause  and  cheering.) 


180 


Address  by  Senator  Joseph  B.  Foraker,  of 
OhiOj  seconding  the  nomination  of  Senator 
Fairbanks. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  We  have 
come  here  to  do  three  things — make  a  platform, 
name  the  next  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  also  name  the  next  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.  We  have  done  two  of  these 
things,  and  are  about  to  do  the  third.  And  we 
have  done  both  of  the  things  we  have  done  well. 
The  platform  we  adopted  yesterday  has  already 
met  the  favorable  judgment  of  the  American 
people.  It  is  accounted  one  of  the  best  the 
Republican  party  has  ever  adopted,  and  if  you 
would  know  how  high  is  that  tribute  recall  the 
fact  now  of  which  every  Republican  may  justly 
feel  proud — that,  of  all  the  many  platforms 
we  have  made  in  the  fifty  years  of  our  party 
life,  we  would  not  to-day  strike  one  of  them 
from  our  record  if  we  could.  Further  than 
that,  there  is  not  a  plank,  or  a  declaration,  or  a 
thought,  or  an  idea,  in  one  of  them  that  we 
would  erase  if  we  had  the  power. 

From  the  platform  of  1856  down  to  that  one 
adopted  yesterday  all  are  as  sound  as  a  gold 

181 


JOSEPH    B.    FORAKER 

dollar.  If  you  would  know  what  a  tribute  is 
here  to  Republican  patriotism,  wisdom  and 
statesmanship,  recall  the  great  questions  with 
which  the  Republican  party  has  dealt  in  making 
these  platforms.  They  are  all  imperishable 
contributions  to  the  political  literature  of  our 
day.  If  you  would  have  another  measure  of 
our  success,  read  also  of  the  lamentable  failure 
our  Democratic  friends  have  met  with  in  mak- 
ing their  platforms.  While  we  are  to-day  proud 
of  the  success  of  ours,  our  Democratic  friends 
cannot  find  one  platform  they  have  made  in  all 
this  period  that  does  not  have  some  features  at 
least  of  which  they  are  now  ashamed.  Not  all  of 
them,  perhaps,  because  there  are  some  Demo- 
crats who  cannot  apparently  be  ashamed  of 
anything. 

On  the  platform  made  yesterday  we  have 
placed  our  candidate  who  is  to  head  the  ticket. 
It  was  not  as  easy  in  some  of  the  conven- 
tions that  have  gone  before  to  name  a  Re- 
publican candidate  for  the  Presidency  as  it  was 
for  us  to  name  our  candidate  here  to-day.  In 
former  years,  when  we  have  been  called  upon 
to  choose  between  such  great  leaders  as  Conk- 
ling  and  Morton  and  Blaine,  and  Garfield,  and 
Sherman  and  Harrison,  and  McKinley,  they 
have  weighed  so  evenly,  their  claims  for  merit 

182 


JOSEPH   B.    rOIlAKER 

were  so  equal,  that  it  was  a  harder  task.  But 
this  time  one  man  stood  head  and  shoulders 
above  all  others  of  our  Republican  leaders,  that 
he  was  already  nominated,  as  has  been  well 
said  from  this  platform,  before  we  took  our 
seats  in  this  convention. 

On  the  ticket  with  him,  as  his  associate,  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  we  want  to  place  a  man 
who  represents  in  his  personality,  in  his  beliefs, 
in  his  public  service,  in  his  high  character,  all 
the  splendid  record  the  Repubhcan  party  has 
made;  all  the  great  declarations  of  the  former 
platforms,  and  a  man  who  will  typify,  as  the 
leader  of  our  ticket  will,  the  highest  ambition 
and  the  noblest  purposes  of  the  Republican 
party  of  the  United  States.     (Applause.) 

I  will  not  detain  you  with  a  eulogy  of  Sen- 
ator Fairbanks,  beyond  simply  saying  that,  to 
all  who  know  him  personally  as  those  of  us  do 
who  have  been  closely  associated  with  him  in  the 
public  service,  he  meets  all  the  requirements  so 
eloquently  stated  by  Senator  Depew.  He  is  of 
Presidential  calibre.  He  has  all  of  the  qualifi- 
cations for  the  high  office  for  which  he  has  been 
named,  and,  by  all  of  these  potent  considera- 
tions, in  the  name  of  the  forty-six  delegates  of 
Ohio,  I  second  the  nomination  of  Senator  Fair- 
banks.   (Cheers.) 

183 


o 


D 


Address  by  Gov.  Samuel  W.  Penny  packer,  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  seconding  Senator  Fair- 
hanks  for  Vice-President. 

The  Republican  party  held  its  first  conven- 
tion in  that  city  of  western  Pennsylvania  which, 
in  energy,  enterprise  and  wealth,  rivals  the 
great  mart  upon  the  inland  lakes  wherein,  after 
the  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  century,  we  meet 
to-day.  Pennsylvania  may  well  claim  to  be 
the  leader  among  Republican  States.  The 
principles  which  are  embodied  in  the  platform 
of  the  party  as  we  have  adopted  it  are  the  result 
of  the  teachings  of  her  scholars  and  statesmen. 
Her  majorities  for  the  nominees  of  that  party 
are  greater  and  more  certain  than  those  of  any 
other  State.  She  alone,  of  all  the  States  since 
the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1860,  has 
never  given  an  electoral  vote  against  a  candi- 
date of  the  Republican  party  for  the  Presi- 
dency. She  is  unselfish  in  her  devotion.  Dur- 
ing the  period  of  half  a  century  that  has  gone 
no  son  of  hers  has  been  either  President  or  Vice- 
President.  She  has  been  satisfied,  like  the  Earl 
of  Warwick,  to  be  the  maker  of  kings.  She  has 
been  content  that  you  should  have  regard  to 

185 


SAMUEL   W.   PENNYPACKER 

the  success  of  the  party  and  the  welfare  of  the 
country  rather  than  to  the  personal  interests  of 
her  citizens. 

The  waters  of  the  Ohio,  rising  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Pennsylvania,  roll  westward,  bearing 
fertility  and  men  to  the  prairie  lands  of  In- 
diana. The  thought  of  Pennsylvania  turns  with 
kindred  feeling  toward  the  State  which  has 
produced  Oliver  P.  Morton,  Benjamin  Harri- 
son and  the  brave  Hoosiers  who  fought  along- 
side of  Reynolds  on  the  Oak  Ridge  at  Gettys- 
burg. She  well  remembers  that  when  her  own 
Senator,  he  who  did  so  much  for  the  Republican 
party,  and  whose  wise  counsels,  alas !  are  miss- 
ing to-day,  bore  a  commission  to  Washington, 
he  had  no  more  sincere  supporter  than  the  able 
and  distinguished  statesman  who  then,  as  he 
does  now,  represented  Indiana  in  the  United 
States  Senate. 

Pennsylvania,  with  the  approval  of  her  judg- 
ment and  with  glad  anticipation  of  victory  in 
her  heart,  following  a  leader,  who,  like  the  Che- 
valier of  France,  is  without  fear  and  without 
reproach,  seconds  the  nomination  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  of  Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  of 
Indiana. 


186 


— ^M».i^^  <an^^ 


Address  by  ex-Senator  Thomas  H.  Carter,  of 
Montana,  in  seconding  Senator  Fairbanks 
for  Vice-President. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
vention: It  will  at  once  be  consoling  and  re- 
assuring to  you  for  me  to  announce  that  I  do 
not  rise  to  make  a  speech,  but  to  make  a  pleas- 
ing announcement.  (Applause.)  You  will  all 
remember  how,  eight  years  ago,  the  intermoun- 
tain  country,  theretofore  solidly  Republican, 
became  tempest-tossed  and  disconcerted.  It 
will  be  remembered  with  regret  that  since  1892 
Republican  electoral  votes  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain region  have  been  few  and  far  between.  I 
am  here  to-day  to  say  to  you  that  from  the 
Canadian  line  to  the  south  line  of  the  Colorado, 
and  from  the  Missouri  River  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  each  and  every  vote  will  be  cost  for 
Theodore  Roosevelt  in  the  electoral  college  next 
November.  The  manner  in  which  this  happy 
result  has  been  brought  about  is  well  worthy  of 
momentary  consideration.  Under  the  kind, 
considerate  and  wise  management  of  William 
McKinley  as  President,  aided  and  assisted  by 
the  venerated  Mark  Hanna,  of  Ohio,  our  wan- 

187 


THOMAS   H.    CARTER 

dering  brothers  were  invited  to  return  without 
humiliating  conditions.  (Loud  applause.)  Of 
all  those  who  have  been  sympathetic,  through 
good  and  evil  report,  while  standing  inflexibly 
by  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  party,  one  of 
the  strongest  and  most  comforting  has  been 
Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  of  Indiana,  whose 
nomination  I  cheerfully  second.  With  Roose- 
velt and  Fairbanks  the  States  west  of  the  Mis- 
souri will,  without  exception,  return  to  their 
Republican  allegiance.  I  thank  you.  (Loud 
applause.) 


188 


CAREERS 


PUBLIC  CAREER  OF  PRESIDENT 
ROOSEVELT. 

The  public  career  of  Theodore  Roosevelt 
began  before  he  was  twenty-four  years  of  age. 
He  is  now  forty-five.  In  the  intervening 
period  he  has  been  almost  continually  before 
the  public.  He  was  nominated  in  1881  for 
Member  of  Assembly  in  the  Twenty-first  New 
York  District.  Tammany,  Irving  Hall,  and 
the  County  Democracy  united  on  W.  Strew  to 
run  against  Roosevelt,  but  the  latter  beat  him 
by  a  vote  of  3,490  to  1,989. 

It  was  the  next  year  that  Grover  Cleveland 
administered  the  most  tremendous  defeat  to  the 
RepubHcans  known  in  New  York  State  politics 
up  to  that  time.  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  again  put 
up  in  the  Twenty-first  New  York,  and,  despite 
the  Republican  slump,  defeated  T.  F.  Neville, 
nominated  by  all  three  Democratic  organiza- 
tions, by  a  vote  of  4,357  to  2,026.  Roosevelt 
was  re-elected  in  1883  and  served  his  last  term 
in  the  House  in  1884. 

During  his  career  as  Member  of  Assembly 
Mr.  Roosevelt  headed  an  investigating  com- 
mittee which  came  to  New  York  and  probed  the 

191 


Theodore  Roosevelt 

City  Government.  With  the  capital  accruing 
from  that  investigation,  the  Republicans  were 
induced  to  think  of  him  as  a  likely  candidate 
for  Mayor,  and  in  1886  they  nominated  him. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt  was  picked  up  by  Tammany 
Hall,  and  made  a  winning  fight.  Mr.  Roose- 
velt ran  third. 

He  next  came  before  the  public  as  a  mem- 
ber of  President  Harrison's  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission. This  office  he  held  into  Cleveland's 
second  administration. 

He  first  entered  national  politics  in  1884, 
when,  with  George  William  Curtis  and  two 
colleagues,  he  went  to  the  Repubhcan  National 
Convention  as  a  delegate  at  large,  enthusiastic 
for  the  nomination  of  George  F.  Edmunds,  of 
Vermont.  The  time  between  his  unsuccessful 
candidacy  for  Mayor  and  his  acceptance  of 
Harrison's  appointment  was  passed  in  the 
West  on  a  ranch. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  apparently  could  have  re- 
mained in  the  Cleveland  Civil  Service  Board 
as  long  as  he  wished,  but  Mayor  Strong's  offer 
to  him  to  become  President  of  the  New  York 
Police  Commission  was  pleasing,  and  he  ac- 
cepted it.  His  record  as  head  of  the  Police 
Board,  with  Fratik  Moss,  A.  D.  Parker,  and 
A.  D.  Andrews,  is  well  known.     "The  Roose- 

192 


THEODOKE   ROOSEVELT 

velt  Board"  is  still  a  phrase  in  the  records  of  the 
Police  Department. 

Before  Strong's  term  expired  President  Mc- 
Kinley  offered  Roosevelt  the  position  of 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  mider  John 
D.  Long.  Roosevelt  accepted,  and  was  holding 
that  office  when  the  Spanish-American  war 
broke  out  in  1898. 

He  was  commissioned  a  Lieutenant-Colonel 
in  the  First  Volimteer  Cavalry  (the  Rough 
Riders) ,  became  Colonel  of  the  regiment,  and 
was  in  command  when  the  Republicans  of  New 
York  State  were  casting  about  for  a  candidate 
for  Governor  in  1898.  Mr.  Roosevelt  was 
nominated,  and  after  a  whirlwind  campaign 
throughout  the  State  was  elected  over  Augus- 
tus C.  Van  Wyck  by  a  plurahty  of  17,786. 

On  June  21,  in  Philadelphia,  four  years  ago, 
Mr.  Roosevelt  was  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent. Mr.  Roosevelt  served  out  the  year  1900 
as  Governor,  and  then  went  to  Washington  to 
prepare  for  the  new  duties  of  Vice-President. 

In  September,  1901,  he  went  on  a  trip  to 
Vermont,  where  he  was  when  President  Mc- 
Kinley  was  shot  in  Buffalo  on  September  6. 

President  McKinley  died  at  2 :25  a.m.,  Sep- 
tember 14, 1901,  and  Vice-President  Roosevelt 
was  sworn  in  as  his  successor  in  Buffalo  at 

193 


THEODOEE   EOOSEYELT 

the  residnce  of  Ansley  Wilcox,   a  personal 
friend. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  is  the  iSrst  President  who. 
coming  into  his  office  through  having  been  Vice- 
President  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive, has  succeeded  in  getting  his  party  to 
nominate  him  for  the  full  term  to  succeed  him- 
self. He  also  is  the  first  native  New  Yorker 
to  be  nominated  for  President  by  the  Republi- 
can party,  and  is  the  third  native  New  Yorker 
to  hold  the  office  of  President.  The  others 
were  Van  Buren  and  Fillmore.  Mr.  Roose- 
velt came  to  the  Presidency  younger  than  any 
who  ever  held  the  office. 


194 


CAREER  OF  SENATOR  FAIRBANKS. 

A  son  of  Ohio,  of  Puritan  ancestry,  Charles 
Warren  Fairbanks  early  attained  prominence 
as  a  lawyer  in  Indianapohs,  and  has  been  a 
United  States  Senator  since  1897.  He  secured 
his  education  by  his  own  exertions,  and  had 
decided  on  the  law  as  a  profession  before  he 
entered  college.  Senator  Fairbanks  was  born 
near  Unionville  Centre,  Union  County,  Ohio, 
May  11,  1852.  He  is  descended  in  the  eighth 
generation  from  Jonathan  Fayerbanks,  who 
settled  in  Dedliam,  Mass.,  in  1636.  From  the 
old  Bay  State  the  ancestors  of  Senator  Fair- 
banks went  to  Vermont,  and  it  was  from  that 
State  that  his  father  went  to  Ohio  in  1836  and 
settled  on  a  farm  and  also  worked  at  wagon- 
making.  As  he  advanced  in  boyhood  he  was 
taught  that  what  his  hand  found  to  do  he  must 
do  with  his  might.  His  parents  were  earnest 
Methodists,  and  encouraged  his  ambition  to 
secure  an  education.  He  diligently  attended  the 
district  school,  and  in  the  summer  he  worked  on 
the  farm.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  left  his 
home  and,  with  $41,  which  he  had  saved  from 
what  his  father  had  paid  him,  in  the  pockets 

195 


CHARLES   WARREN   FAIRBA*NKS 

of  his  only  suit  of  clothes,  he  went  to  Dela- 
ware, Ohio,  and  entered  the  Ohio  Wesleyan 
University.  There  he  and  his  roommate 
boarded  themselves,  and  young  Fairbanks 
found  employment  with  a  carpenter  on  Sat- 
urdays by  reason  of  his  familiarity  with  the  use 
of  tools.  In  the  summer  vacations  he  worked  in 
the  harvest  field  at  his  home.  In  his  senior 
year  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  college 
newspaper,  "The  Western  Collegian."  He 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1872, 
and  went  to  Pittsburg,  where  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  at  the  same  time  supporting  him- 
self by  doing  newspaper  work  for  the  Asso- 
ciated Press.  A  year  later  he  entered  a  law 
school  in  Cleveland,  and  did  similar  work.  It 
was  in  1874  that  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Columbus,  Ohio. 

While  in  college  he  had  met  Miss  Corneha 
Cole,  who  was  a  co-editor  with  him  on  the  col- 
lege paper.  In  the  same  year  that  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  they  were  married,  and  went 
to  IndianapoUs  to  make  their  permanent  home. 
The  young  lawyer  was  aided  in  seeming  a  prac- 
tice by  his  uncle,  William  Henry  Smith,  who 
was  interested  in  railroads,  and  he  soon  became 
one  of  the  most  successful  railroad  lawyers  in 
the  State.     With  increased  income  he  became  a 

196 


CHARLES   WARREN   FAIRBA'NKS 

resident  of  the  most  fashionable  part  of  the 
city,  North  Meridian  Street. 

Senator  Fairbanks  always  has  been  an  earn- 
est Republican.  In  1888  he  was  the  manager 
of  the  candidacy  of  Walter  Q.  Gresham 
for  the  nomination  for  President  at  the  Chi- 
cago convention,  but  when  the  nomination 
of  Harrison  became  evident  the  support  of 
Gresham,  with  his  consent,  was  transferred 
to  Harrison.  Mr.  Fairbanks  made  speeches 
for  Harrison  and  Morton  throughout  Indiana. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  Indiana  State  Conven- 
tion in  1892,  and  again  in  1898.  In  1893  he 
was  chosen  by  the  Repubhcan  caucus  in  the 
State  Legislature  as  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator,  but  the  Democrats  had  a  ma- 
jority on  joint  ballot  and  elected  Senator  Tur- 
pie.  In  1896  he  was  delegate-at-large  from 
Indiana  to  the  St.  Louis  Republican  Conven- 
tion, and  served  as  temporary  chairman.  In 
1897  he  was  the  candidate  for  United  States 
Senator,  to  succeed  Daniel  W.  Voorhees 
(Dem.),  the  "Tall  Sycamore  of  the  Wabash," 
and  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  21.  In  1898 
he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  United 
States  and  British  Joint  High  Commission  to 
settle  the  differences  with  Canada,  and  he  was 
chairman  of  the  United  States  commissioners. 

197 


CHARLES   WARREN   FAIRBANKS 

As  a  Senator  he  has  always  been  strict  in  his  at- 
tendance on  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  has 
made  a  most  thorough  study  of  all  pubhc  ques- 
tions. He  is  a  forcible  and  practical  speaker, 
and  has  been  persistent  in  securing  legislation 
in  which  he  is  interested.  He  was  re-elected  a 
Senator  last  year  for  the  term  ending  March  3, 
1909. 

Senator  Fairbanks  was  an  Indiana  delegate- 
at-large  to  the  Republican  convention  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1900,  and  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  resolutions  reported  the  platform. 
He  was  strongly  talked  of  as  candidate  for 
Vice-President  before  the  choice  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt  was  decided  on.  He  was  a  close 
friend  of  President  McKinley,  and  it  was 
thought  he  might  be  his  successor. 

Senator  Fairbanks  is  an  active  Methodist, 
and  is  a  leading  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Meridian  Street  Church,  in  Indianapolis. 
Since  1885  he  has  been  a  trustee  of  the  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University,  whose  president.  Dr. 
Bashford,  has  just  been  elected  a  bishop  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  personal 
appearance  the  Senator  is  over  six  feet  in 
height  and  extremely  dignified  in  manner.  He 
is  most  highly  thought  of  by  his  friends,  and  by 

198 


CHARLES   WARREN   FAIRBANKS 

his  opponents  is  regarded  as  a  man  who  fights 
fair. 

Mrs.  Fairbanks  is  the  president-general  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Their  home  in  Massachusetts  Avenue,  Wash- 
ington, is  the  center  of  generous  hospitality. 
Senator  and  Mrs.  Fairbanks  have  five  children, 
one  daughter,  married  to  Ensign  John  W. 
Timmons,  of  the  battleship  Kearsarge,  and 
four  sons,  one  in  business  and  three  completing 
their  education,  one  being  an  undergraduate 
at  Yale. 


199 


POLITICAL  RECORD  OF 
HON.  GEORGE  B.  CORTELYOU. 

Secretary  Cortelyou's  father  and  grand- 
father were  Republicans  of  the  stanchest  kind. 
His  grandfather,  Peter  Crohus  Cortelyou,  Sr., 
was  the  intimate  friend  and  associate  of  Horace 
Greeley,  Thurlow  Weed  and  other  great  lead- 
ers of  the  party's  early  history.  Both  his 
brothers  are  Republicans,  and  the  members  of 
his  family  have  been  known  as  Republicans 
since  the  foundation  of  the  party.  All  the 
teachings  of  his  early  years  were  in  that  politi- 
cal faith,  and  when  he  took  up  the  study  of 
public  questions  on  his  own  account  he  became 
a  firm  believer  in  Republican  doctrines.  His 
first  vote  was  cast  for  a  Republican  candidate, 
and  from  that  day  to  this  he  has  voted  the 
Republican  ticket. 

Mr.  Cortelyou  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Young  Men's  Republican  Club,  of  Hemp- 
stead, N.  Y.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the 
Plumed  Knights,  and  did  hard  and  effective 
service  in  the  Blaine  campaign.  He  was  the 
secretary  of  the  Harrison  managers  at  the  Min- 
neapolis convention.    Upon  the  advent  of  the 

200 


GEORGE   B.    CORTELYOU 

Democratic  administration  in  1885  he  tendered 
his  resignation  and  left  the  federal  service. 
Again,  in  1893,  upon  the  advent  of  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's second  administration,  he  tendered  his 
resignation  and  remained  only  at  the  earnest 
request  of  his  new  superior.  He  has  gone  reg- 
ularly each  year  to  his  home  and  voted  for  Re- 
publican candidates,  and  while  he  loyally  served 
a  Democratic  President,  he  accepted  the  posi- 
tion then  tendered  him  only  after  a  frank  state- 
ment of  his  political  beliefs.  He  has  been  sec- 
retary to  two  RepubHcan  Presidents  and  has 
been  a  Cabinet  officer  in  a  RepubHcan  admin- 
istration. That  is  his  record.  It  speaks  for 
itself. 


201 


Notification  Speech  of  Hon.  Joseph  G. 
Cannon. 

Mr.  President:  The  people  of  the  United 
States,  by  blood,  heredity,  education  and  prac- 
tice, are  a  self-governing  people.  We  have 
sometimes  been  subject  to  prejudice  and  em- 
barrassment from  harmful  conditions,  but  we 
have  outgrown  prejudice  and  overcome  con- 
ditions as  rapidly  as  possible,  having  due  regard 
to  law  and  the  rights  of  individuals.  We 
have  sometimes  made  mistakes  from  a  false 
sense  of  security  or  from  a  desire  to  change 
policies  instead  of  letting  well  enough  alone, 
merely  to  see  what  would  happen ;  but  we  have 
always  paid  the  penalty  of  imiwise  action  at 
the  ballot  box  and  endured  the  suffering  until 
under  the  law,  through  the  ballot  box,  we  have 
returned  to  correct  policies.  Tested  by  experi- 
ence, no  nation  has  so  successfully  solved  all 
problems  and  chosen  proper  policies  as  our  na- 
tion. Under  the  lead  of  the  Republican  party 
for  over  forty  years,  the  United  States,  from 
being  a  third-class^  power  among  the  nations, 
has  become  in  every  respect  first.  The  people 
rule.     The  people  ruling,  it  is  necessary  that 

202 


NOTIFICATION   BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

they  should  be  competent  to  rule.  Competency 
requires  not  only  patriotism,  but  material  well- 
being,  education  and  statecraft. 

The  people,  under  the  lead  of  the  Republican 
party,  write  upon  the  statute  books  revenue 
laws,  levying  taxes  upon  the  products  of  for- 
eign countries  seeking  our  markets,  which  re- 
plenished our  Treasury,  but  were  so  adjusted 
as  to  encourage  our  people  in  developing,  diver- 
sifying and  maintaining  our  industries,  at  the 
same  time  protecting  our  citizens  laboring  in 
production  against  the  competition  of  foreign 
labor.  Under  this  policy,  our  manufactured 
product  to-day  is  one-third  of  the  product  of 
the  civilized  world,  and  our  people  receive  al- 
most double  the  pay  for  their  labor  that  sim- 
ilar labor  receives  elsewhere  in  the  world, 
thereby  enabling  us  to  bear  the  burdens  of  cit- 
izenship. 

Liberal  compensation  for  labor  makes  lib- 
eral customers  for  our  products.  Under  this 
policy  of  protection,  our  home  market  affords 
all  our  people  a  better  market  than  has  any 
other  people  on  earth,  and  this,  too,  even  if  we 
did  not  sell  any  of  our  products  abroad.  In 
addition  to  this,  we  have  come  to  be  the  great- 
est exporting  nation  in  the  world.  For  the 
year  ending  June  30,  1904,  our  exports  to  for- 

203 


NOTIFICATION    BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

eign  countries  were  valued  at  $1,460,000,000, 
of  which  $450,000,000  were  products  of  the 
factory.  The  world  fell  in  our  debt  last  year 
$470,000,000,  an  increase  of  $75,000,000  over 
the  preceding  year. 

This  policy  of  protection  has  always  been  op- 
posed by  the  opponents  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  is  opposed  by  them  to-day.  In 
their  last  national  platform,  adopted  at  St. 
Louis,  they  denounce  protection  as  robbery. 
They  never  have  been  given  power  but  they 
proceeded  by  word  and  act  to  destroy  the  policy 
of  protection. 

Their  platform  is  as  silent  as  the  grave  touch- 
ing the  gold  standard  and  our  currency  system. 
Their  chosen  leader,  after  his  nomination — hav- 
ing been  as  silent  as  the  Sphinx  to  that  time — 
sent  his  telegram  saying,  in  substance,  that  the 
gold  standard  is  established,  and  that  he  will 
govern  himself  accordingly  if  he  should  be 
elected. 

I  congratulate  him.  It  is  better  to  be  right 
late  than  never.  It  is  better  to  be  right  in  one 
thing  than  wrong  in  all  things.  I  wonder  if  it 
ever  occurred  to  him  that  if  his  vote  and  sup- 
port for  his  party's  candidate  in  1896  and  1900 
had  been  decisive  we  would  now  have  the  silver 
standard?     I  wonder  what  made  him  send  that 

204 


NOTIFICATION    BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

telegram  after  he  was  nominated,  and  why  he 
did  not  send  it  before?  When  did  he  have  a 
change  of  heart  and  judgment?  And  does  he 
at  heart  beheve  in  the  gold  standard  and  our 
currency  system,  or  does  he  try  now  to  reap 
where  he  has  not  sown?  If,  perchance,  he 
should  be  elected  by  forcing  together  discord- 
ant elements,  I  submit  that,  with  a  Democratic 
House  of  Representatives  or  House  and  Sen- 
ate, there  would  be  no  harmonious  action  in 
legislation  or  administration  that  would  benefit 
the  people,  but  that  doubt  and  discontent  would 
everywhere  distress  production  and  labor.  Con- 
sumption would  be  curtailed.  In  short,  we 
would  have  an  experience  similar  to  that  from 
1893  to  1897.  If  this  chosen  leader  and  his 
friends  are  converts  to  Republican  policies, 
should  not  they  "bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  re- 
pentance" before  they  ask  to  be  placed  in  the 
highest  positions  to  affect  the  well-being  of  all? 
or,  if  they  profess  all  things  to  all  men,  then 
they  are  not  worthy  the  confidence  of  any  man. 
If  clothed  with  power,  will  they  follow  in  the 
paths  of  legislation  according  to  their  loves  and 
votes  as  manifested  by  their  action  always  here- 
tofore, or  will  they  stand  by,  protect  and  de- 
fend the  gold  standard  and  our  currency  sys- 

205 


NOTIFICATION   BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

tern  that  have  been  created  under  the  lead  of 
the  Republican  party  ? 

Correct  revenue  laws,  protection  or  free 
trade,  the  gold  standard  and  our  currency  sys- 
tem, all  depend  upon  the  sentiment  of  the  ma- 
jority of  our  people  as  voiced  at  the  ballot  box. 
A  majority  may  change  our  revenue  laws;  a 
majority  may  change  our  currency  laws;  a 
majority  may  destroy  the  gold  standard  and 
establish  the  silver  standard,  or,  in  lieu  of  either 
or  both,  make  the  Treasury  note,  non-interest 
bearing  and  irredeemable,  the  sole  standard  of 
value. 

Sir,  let  us  turn  from  the  region  of  doubt  and 
double  dealing,  the  debatable  land,  to  the  re- 
gion of  assured  certainty.  The  RepubUcan 
party  stands  for  Protection.  It  stands  for  the 
gold  standard  and  our  currency  system.  All 
these  dwell  in  legislation  enacted  under  the  lead 
of  the  RepubHcan  party  and  against  the  most 
determined  opposition  of  the  Democratic  party, 
including  its  leader  and  candidate.  These  be- 
ing our  policies,  and  having  been  most  useful 
to  the  country,  we  have  confidence  in  and  love 
them.  If  it  be  necessary  from  time  to  time  that 
they  should  be  strengthened  here  and  con- 
trolled there,  the  Republican  party  stands  ready 
with  loving,  competent  hands,  to  apply  the 

206 


NOTIFICATION   BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

proper  remedy.  I  say  "remedy."  Being  our 
policies,  we  will  not  willingly  subject  them  to 
their  enemies  for  slow  starvation  on  the  one 
hand  or  to  sudden  destruction  on  the  other. 

Since  the  Republican  party  was  restored  to 
power  in  1897,  under  the  lead  of  McKinley, 
our  country  has  prospered  in  production  and 
in  commerce  as  it  has  never  prospered  before. 
In  wealth  we  stand  first  among  all  the  nations. 
Under  the  lead  of  William  McKinley  the  war 
with  Spain  was  speedily  brought  to  a  success- 
ful conclusion.  Under  the  treaty  of  peace  and 
our  action  Cuba  is  free,  and  under  guarantees 
written  in  her  constitution  and  our  legislation 
it  is  assured  that  she  will  ever  remain  free. 
We  also  acquired  Porto  Rico,  Guam  and  the 
Philippines  by  a  treaty  the  ratification  of  which 
was  only  possible  by  the  votes  of  Democratic 
Senators.  Civil  government  has  been  estab- 
lished in  Porto  Rico,  and  we  are  journeying 
toward  civil  government  in  the  Philippines  as 
rapidly  as  the  people  of  the  archipelago  are 
able  to  receive  it ;  and  this,  too,  notwithstanding 
the  false  cry  of  "imperialism"  raised  by  the 
Democratic  party  and  still  insisted  upon,  which 
led  to  insurrection  in  the  Philippines  and  tends 
to  lead  to  further  insurrection  there.  The  rec- 
ord of  the  Republican  party  under  the  lead  of 

207 


NOTIFICATION   BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

William  McKinley  has  passed  into  history. 
Who  dares  assail  it? 

In  the  history  of  the  Republic  in  time  of 
peace  no  Executive  has  had  greater  questions 
to  deal  with  than  yourself,  and  none  have 
brought  greater  courage,  wisdom  and  patriot- 
ism to  their  solution.  You  have  enforced  the 
law  against  the  mighty  and  the  lowly  without 
fear,  favor  or  partiality.  Under  the  Constitu- 
tion you  have  recommended  legislation  to  Con- 
gress from  time  to  time,  as  it  was  your  duty  to 
do,  and  when  it  was  passed  by  Congress  have 
approved  it.  You  have,  under  the  Constitu- 
tion, led  in  making  a  treaty  which  was  ratified 
by  the  Senate  and  is  approved  by  the  people, 
which  not  only  assures,  but,  under  the  law 
and  appropriations  made  by  Congress,  pro- 
ceeds with,  the  construction  of  the  Panama 
Canal. 

The  Republican  party,  under  your  leadership, 
keeps  its  record  from  the  beginning  under  Lin- 
coln of  doing  things,  the  right  thing  at  the 
right  time  and  in  the  right  way,  notwithstand- 
ing the  opposition  of  those  who  oppose  the 
right  policies  from  the  selfish  or  partisan  stand- 
point. They  dare  not  tell  the  truth  about  your 
official  action  or  the  record  of  the  party,  and 
then  condemn  it.  They  can,  for  selfish  or  parti- 

208 


NOTIFICATION   BY   SPEAKEE   CANNON 

san  reasons,  abuse  you  personally  and  misrepre- 
sent the  party  which  you  lead.  It  is  true, 
however,  that  so  far  their  abuse  of  your  action 
and  their  alleged  fear  of  your  personality  is 
insignificant  as  compared  with  the  personal  and 
partisan  carpings  against  Lincoln,  Grant  and 
McKinley  when  they  were  clothed  with  power 
by  the  people.  Those  whose  only  grievance  is 
that  you  have  enforced  the  law  and  those  who 
carp  for  mere  partisan  capital  will  not,  in  my 
judgment,  reap  the  harvest  of  success.  The 
Republican  party  for  you  and  under  your  lead- 
ership appeals  to  the  great  body  of  the  people 
who  Hve  in  the  sweat  of  their  faces,  make  the 
civilization,  control  the  Republic,  fight  its  bat- 
tles and  determine  its  policies,  for  approval  and 
continuance  in  power. 

The  office  of  President  of  the  United  States 
is  the  greatest  on  earth,  and  many  competent 
men  in  the  Republican  party  are  ambitious  to 
hold  it,  yet  the  Republican  Convention  met  at 
Chicago  in  June  last  and  unanimously,  with 
one  accord,  nominated  you  as  the  candidate  of 
the  party  for  President.  I  am  sure  all  Repub- 
licans and  a  multitude  of  good  citizens  who  do 
not  call  themselves  Republicans  said  "Amen." 

In  pursuance  of  the  usual  custom,  the  con- 
vention appointed  a  committee,  of  which  it 

209 


NOTIFICATION   BY   SPEAKER   CANNON 

honored  me  with  the  chairmanship,  to  wait  upon 
you  and  infonn  you  of  its  action,  which  duty, 
speaking  for  the  committee,  I  now  cheerfully 
perform,  with  the  hope  and  the  confident  expec- 
tation that  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
Repubhc  will  in  November  next  approve  the 
action  of  the  convention  by  choosing  electors 
who  will  assure  your  election  to  the  Presidency 
as  your  own  successor. 


210 


Acceptance  Speech  of  Hon.  Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

Mr.  Speaker  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Notifica- 
tion Committee:  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the 
high  honor  conferred  upon  me  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Republican  party  assembled  in 
convention,  and  I  accept  the  nomination  for 
the  Presidency  with  solemn  realization  of  the 
obligations  I  assume.  I  heartily  approve  the 
declaration  of  principles  which  the  Republican 
National  Convention  has  adopted,  and  at  some 
future  day  I  shall  communicate  to  you,  Mr. 
Chairman,  more  at  length  and  in  detail  a  for- 
mal written  acceptance  of  the  nomination. 

Three  years  ago  I  became  President  because 
of  the  death  of  my  lamented  predecessor.  I 
then  stated  that  it  was  my  purpose  to  carry  out 
his  principles  and  policies  for  the  honor  and 
the  interest  of  the  country.  To  the  best  of  my 
ability  I  have  kept  the  promise  thus  made.  If 
next  November  my  countrymen  confirm  at  the 
polls  the  action  of  the  convention  you  represent, 
I  shall,  under  Providence,  continue  to  work 
with  an  eye  single  to  the  welfare  of  all  our 
people. 

A  party  is  of  worth  only  in  so  far  as  it 

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ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT  ROOSE^^LT 

promotes  the  national  interest,  and  every  offi- 
cial, high  or  low,  can  sei*ve  his  party  best  by 
rendering  to  the  people  the  best  service  of 
which  he  is  capable.  Effective  government 
comes  only  as  the  result  of  the  loyal  co-opera- 
tion of  many  different  persons.  The  members 
of  a  legislative  majority,  the  officers  in  the 
various  departments  of  the  Administra- 
tion, and  the  legislative  and  executive 
branches  as  toward  each  other,  must  work 
together  with  subordination  of  self  to  the  com- 
mon end  of  successful  government.  We  who 
have  been  intrusted  with  power  as  public  serv- 
ants during  the  last  seven  years  of  administra- 
tion and  legislation  now  come  before  the  people 
content  to  be  judged  by  our  record  of  achieve- 
ment. In  the  years  that  have  gone  by  we  have 
made  the  deed  square  with  the  word ;  and  if  we 
are  continued  in  power  we  shall  unswervingly 
follow  out  the  great  lines  of  public  policy  which 
the  Republican  party  has  already  laid  down;  a 
public  policy  to  which  we  are  giving,  and  shall 
give,  a  united,  and  therefore  an  efficient,  sup- 
port. 

In  all  of  this  we  are  more  fortunate  than  our 
opponents,  who  now  appeal  for  confidence  on 
the  ground,  which  some  express  and  some  seek 
to  have  confidentially  understood,  that  if  tri- 

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ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

umphant  they  may  be  trusted  to  prove  false  to 
every  principle  which  in  the  last  eight  years 
they  have  laid  down  as  vital,  and  to  leave  un- 
disturbed those  very  acts  of  the  Administration 
because  of  which  they  ask  that  the  Administra- 
tion itself  be  driven  from  power.  Seemingly 
their  present  attitude  as  to  their  past  record  is 
that  some  of  them  were  mistaken  and  others  in- 
sincere. We  make  our  appeal  in  a  wholly  dif- 
ferent spirit.  We  are  not  constrained  to  keep 
silent  on  any  vital  question;  we  are  divided 
on  no  vital  question;  our  policy  is  con- 
tinuous, and  is  the  same  for  all  sections  and 
locahties.  There  is  nothing  experimental 
about  the  government  we  ask  the  people  to 
continue  in  power,  for  our  performance  in  the 
past,  our  proved  governmental  efficiency,  is  a 
guarantee  as  to  our  promises  for  the  future. 

Our  opponents,  either  openly  or  secretly,  ac- 
cording to  their  several  temperaments,  now  ask 
the  people  to  trust  their  present  promises  in 
consideration  of  the  fact  that  they  intend  to 
treat  their  past  promises  as  null  and  void.  We 
know  our  own  minds,  and  we  have  kept  of  the 
same  mind  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to 
give  to  our  policy  coherence  and  sanity.  In 
such  a  fimdamental  matter  as  the  enforcement 
of  the  law  we  do  not  have  to  depend  upon 

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ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSE^TiLT 

promises,  but  merely  to  ask  that  our  record  be 
taken  as  an  earnest  of  what  we  shall  continue 
to  do.  In  dealing  with  the  great  organizations 
known  as  trusts  we  do  not  have  to  explain  why 
the  laws  were  not  enforced,  but  to  point  out 
that  they  actually  have  been  enforced  and  that 
legislation  has  been  enacted  to  increase  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  their  enforcement. 

We  do  not  have  to  propose  to  "turn  the  ras- 
cals out,"  for  we  have  shown  in  very  deed  that 
whenever  by  diligent  investigation  a  public 
official  can  be  found  who  has  betrayed  his  trust 
he  will  be  punished  to  the  full  extent  of  the 
law,  without  regard  to  whether  he  was  ap- 
pointed under  a  Republican  or  a  Democratic 
Adiministration.  This  is  the  efficient  way  to  turn 
the  rascals  out  and  to  keep  them  out,  and  it  has 
the  merit  of  sincerity.  Moreover,  the  betrayals 
of  trust  in  the  last  seven  years  have  been  in- 
significant in  number  when  compared  with  the 
extent  of  the  public  service.  Never  has  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  government  been  on  a 
cleaner  and  higher  level;  never  has  the  public 
work  of  the  nation  been  done  more  honestly 
and  efficiently. 

Assuredly,  it  is  unwise  to  change  the  policies 
which  have  worked  so  well  and  which  are  now 
working  so  well.  Prosperity  has  come  at  home. 

214 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

The  national  honor  and  interest  have  been  up- 
held abroad.  We  have  placed  the  finances  of 
the  nation  upon  a  sound  gold  basis.  We  have 
done  this  with  the  aid  of  many  who  were  for- 
merly our  opponents,  but  who  would  neither 
openly  support  nor  silently  acquiesce  in  the 
heresy  of  unsound  finance ;  and  we  have  done  it 
against  the  convinced  and  violent  opposition  of 
the  mass  of  our  present  opponents,  who  still 
refuse  to  recant  the  unsound  opinions  which 
for  the  moment  they  think  it  inexpedient  to  as- 
sert. We  know  what  we  mean  when  we  speak 
of  an  honest  and  stable  currency.  We  mean 
the  same  thing  from  year  to  year.  We  do  not 
have  to  avoid  a  definite  and  conclusive  com- 
mittal on  the  most  important  issue  which  has 
recently  been  before  the  people,  and  which 
may  at  any  time  in  the  near  future  be  before 
them  again.  Upon  the  principles  which  under- 
lie the  issue  the  convictions  of  half  of  our  num- 
ber do  not  clash  with  those  of  the  other  half. 
So  long  as  the  Republican  party  is  in  power 
the  gold  standard  is  settled,  not  as  a  matter  of 
temporary  political  expediency,  not  because  of 
shifting  conditions  in  the  production  of  gold  in 
certain  mining  centers,  but  in  accordance  with 
what  we  regard  as  the  fundamental  principles 
of  national  morality  and  wisdom. 

215 


ACCEPTANCE  BY   PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

Under  the  financial  legislation  which  we 
have  enacted  there  is  now  ample  circulation  for 
every  business  need;  and  every  dollar  of  this 
circulation  is  worth  a  dollar  in  gold.  We  have 
reduced  the  interest -bearing  debt,  and  in  still 
larger  measure  the  interest  on  that  debt.  All 
of  the  war  taxes  imposed  during  the  Spanish 
war  have  been  removed  with  a  view  to  relieve 
the  people  and  to  prevent  the  accumulation  of 
an  unnecessary  surplus.  The  result  is  that 
hardly  ever  before  have  the  expenditures  and 
income  of  the  government  so  closely  corre- 
sponded. In  the  fiscal  year  that  has  just  closed 
the  excess  of  income  over  the  ordinary  ex- 
penditures was  $9,000,000.  This  does  not  take 
account  of  the  $50,000,000  expended  out  of  the 
accumulated  surplus  for  the  purchase  of  the 
Isthmian  Canal.  It  is  an  extraordinary  proof 
of  the  sound  financial  condition  of  the  nation 
that  instead  of  following  the  usual  course  in 
such  matters  and  throwing  the  burden  upon 
posterity  by  an  issue  of  bonds,  we  are  able  to 
make  the  payment  outright,  and  yet  after  it  to 
have  in  the  Treasury  a  surplus  of  $161,000,000. 
Moreover,  we  were  able  to  pay  this  $50,000,000 
out  of  hand  without  causing  the  slightest  dis- 
turbance to  business  conditions. 

We  have  enacted  a  tariff  law  under  which, 

216 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

during  the  last  few  years,  the  country  has  at- 
tained a  height  of  material  well-being  never  be- 
fore reached.  Wages  are  higher  than  ever  be- 
fore. That  whenever  the  need  arises  there 
should  be  a  readjustment  of  the  tariff  schedules 
is  undoubted ;  but  such  changes  can  with  safety 
be  made  only  by  those  whose  devotion  to  the 
principle  of  a  protective  tariff  is  beyond  ques- 
tion; for  otherwise  the  changes  would  amount 
not  to  readjustment  but  to  repeal.  The  read- 
justment when  made  must  maintain  and  not  de- 
stroy the  protective  principle.  To  the  farmer, 
the  merchant,  the  manufacturer,  this  is  vital; 
but  perhaps  no  other  man  is  so  much  interested 
as  the  wage  worker  in  the  maintenance  of  our 
present  economic  system,  both  as  regards  the 
finances  and  the  tariff.  The  standard  of  living 
of  our  wage  workers  is  higher  than  that  of  any 
other  country,  and  it  cannot  so  remain  unless 
we  have  a  protective  tariff  which  shall  always 
keep  as  a  minimum  a  rate  of  duty  sufficient  to 
cover  the  difference  between  the  labor  cost  here 
and  abroad.  Those  who,  hke  our  opponents, 
"denounce  protection  as  a  robbery"  thereby  ex- 
plicitly commit  themselves  to  the  proposition 
that  if  they  were  to  revise  the  tariff  no  heed 
would  be  paid  to  the  necessity  of  meeting  this 
difference  between  the  standards  of  living  for 

217 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

wage  workers  here  and  in  other  countries ;  and 
therefore  on  this  point  their  antagonism  to  our 
position  is  fundamental.  Here  again  we  ask  that 
their  promises  and  ours  be  judged  by  what  has 
been  done  in  the  immediate  past.  We  ask  that 
sober  and  sensible  men  compare  the  workings 
of  the  present  tariff  law,  and  the  conditions 
which  obtain  under  it,  with  the  workings  of  the 
preceding  tariff  law  of  1894  and  the  conditions 
which  that  tariff  of  1894  helped  to  bring  about. 
We  believe  in  reciprocity  with  foreign  na- 
tions on  the  terms  outlined  in  President  Mc- 
Kinley's  last  speech,  which  urged  the  extension 
of  our  foreign  markets  by  reciprocal  agree- 
ments whenever  they  could  be  made  without  in- 
jury to  American  industry  and  labor.  It  is  a 
singular  fact  that  the  only  great  reciprocity 
treaty  recently  adopted — that  with  Cuba — was 
finally  opposed  almost  alone  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  very  party  which  now  states  that  it 
favors  reciprocity.  And  here,  again,  we  ask 
that  the  worth  of  our  words  be  judged  by  com- 
paring their  deeds  with  ours.  On  this  Cuban 
reciprocity  treaty  there  were  at  the  outset  grave 
differences  of  opinion  among  ourselves ;  and  the 
notable  thing  in  the  negotiation  and  ratification 
of  the  treaty,  and  in  the  legislation  which  car- 
ried it  into  effect,  was  the  highly  practical  man- 

218 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

ner  in  which,  without  sacrifice  of  principle, 
these  differences  of  opinion  were  reconciled. 
There  was  no  rupture  of  a  great  party,  but  an 
excellent  practical  outcome,  the  result  of  the 
harmonious  co-operation  of  two  successive 
Presidents  and  two  successive  Congresses.  This 
is  an  illustration  of  the  governing  capacity 
which  entitles  us  to  the  confidence  of  the  people 
not  only  in  our  purposes  but  in  our  practical 
abiUty  to  achieve  those  purposes.  Judging  by 
the  history  of  the  last  twelve  years,  down  to  this 
very  month,  is  there  justification  for  believing 
that  under  similar  circumstances  and  with  sim- 
ilar initial  differences  of  opinion  our  opponents 
would  have  achieved  any  practical  result? 

We  have  already  shown  in  actual  fact  that 
our  policy  is  to  do  fair  and  equal  justice  to  all 
men,  paying  no  heed  to  whether  a  man  is  rich 
or  poor ;  paying  no  heed  to  his  race,  his  creed  or 
his  birthplace. 

We  recognize  the  organization  of  capital  and 
the  organization  of  labor  as  natural  outcomes 
of  our  industrial  system.  Each  kind  of  organi- 
zation is  to  be  favored  so  long  as  it  acts  in  a 
spirit  of  justice  and  of  regard  for  the  rights  of 
others.  Each  is  to  be  granted  the  full  protection 
of  the  law,  and  each  in  turn  is  to  be  held  to  a 
strict  obedience  to  the  law ;  for  no  man  is  above 

219 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

it  and  no  man  below  it.  The  humblest  indi- 
vidual is  to  have  his  rights  safeguarded  as  scru- 
pulously as  those  of  the  strongest  organization, 
for  each  is  to  receive  justice,  no  more  and  no 
less.  The  problems  with  which  we  have  to  deal 
in  our  modern  industrial  and  social  life  are 
manifold ;  but  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  necessary 
to  approach  their  solution  is  simply  the  spirit  of 
honesty,  of  courage  and  of  common  sense. 

In  inaugurating  the  great  work  of  irrigation 
in  the  West  the  administration  has  been  enabled 
by  Congress  to  take  one  of  the  longest  strides 
ever  taken  under  our  government  towards  util- 
izing our  vast  national  domain  for  the  settler, 
the  actual  home  maker. 

Ever  since  this  continent  was  discovered  the 
need  of  an  isthmian  canal  to  connect  the  Pacific 
and  the  Atlantic  has  been  recognized ;  and  ever 
since  the  birth  of  our  nation  such  a  canal  has 
been  planned.  At  last  the  dream  has  become  a 
reality.  The  isthmian  canal  is  now  being  built 
by  the  government  of  the  United  States.  We 
conducted  the  negotiation  for  its  construction 
with  the  nicest  and  most  scrupulous  honor,  and 
in  a  spirit  of  the  largest  generosity  toward  those 
through  whose  territory  it  was  to  rxm.  Every 
sinister  effort  which  could  be  devised  by  the 
spirit  of  faction  or  the  spirit  of  self-interest  was 

220 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT  EOOSEVELT 

made  in  order  to  defeat  the  treaty  with  Panama 
and  thereby  prevent  the  consummation  of  this 
work.  The  construction  of  the  canal  is  now  an 
assured  fact,  but  most  certainly  it  is  unwise  to 
intrust  the  carrying  out  of  so  momentous  a 
policy  to  those  who  have  endeavored  to  defeat 
the  whole  undertaking. 

Our  foreign  policy  has  been  so  conducted 
that,  while  not  one  of  our  just  claims  has  been 
sacrificed,  our  relations  with  all  foreign  nations 
are  now  of  the  most  peaceful  kind;  there  is  not 
a  cloud  on  the  horizon.  The  last  cause  of  irrita- 
tion between  us  and  any  other  nation  was  re- 
moved by  the  settlement  of  the  Alaskan  bound- 
ary. 

In  the  Caribbean  Sea  we  have  made  good  our 
promises  of  independence  to  Cuba,  and  have 
proved  our  assertion  that  our  mission  in  the 
island  was  one  of  justice  and  not  of  self-ag- 
grandizement, and  thereby  no  less  than  by  our 
action  in  Venezuela  and  Panama  we  have  shown 
that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  a  Hving  reaUty, 
designed  for  the  hurt  of  no  nation,  but  for  the 
protection  of  civilization  on  the  Western  con- 
tinent and  for  the  peace  of  the  world.  Our 
steady  growth  in  power  has  gone  hand  in  hand 
with  a  strengthening  disposition  to  use  this 
power  with  strict  regard  for    the    rights    of 

221 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

others  and  for  the  cause  of  international  justice 
and  good-will. 

We  earnestly  desire  friendship  with  all  the 
nations  of  the  New  and  Old  Worlds;  and  we 
endeavor  to  place  our  relations  with  them  upon 
a  basis  of  reciprocal  advantage  instead  of  hos- 
tility. We  hold  that  the  prosperity  of  each 
nation  is  an  aid  and  not  a  hindrance  to  the  pros- 
perity of  other  nations.  We  seek  international 
amity  for  the  same  reasons  that  make  us  be- 
heve  in  peace  within  our  own  borders;  and  we 
seek  this  peace  not  because  we  are  afraid  or 
unready,  but  because  we  think  that  peace  is 
right  as  well  as  advantageous. 

American  interests  in  the  Pacific  have  rap- 
idly grown.  American  enterprise  has  laid  a 
cable  across  this,  the  greatest  of  oceans.  We 
have  proved  in  effective  fashion  that  we  wish 
the  Chinese  Empire  well  and  desire  its  integ- 
rity and  independence. 

Our  foothold  in  the  Philippines  greatly 
strengthens  our  position  in  the  competition  for 
the  trade  of  the  East ;  but  we  are  governing  the 
Philippines  in  the  interest  of  the  Philippine 
people  themselves.  We  have  already  given 
them  a  large  share  in  their  government,  and 
our  purpose  is  to  increase  this  share  as  rapidly 
as  they  give  evidence  of  increasing  fitness  for 

222 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   R00SE^T:LT 

the  task.  The  great  majority  of  the  officials 
of  the  islands,  whether  elective  or  appointive, 
are  already  native  Filipinos.  We  are  now  pro- 
viding for  a  legislative  assembly.  This  is  the 
first  step  to  be  taken  in  the  future ;  and  it  would 
be  eminently  unwise  to  declare  what  our  next 
step  will  be  until  this  first  step  has  been  taken 
and  the  results  are  manifest.  To  have  gone 
faster  than  we  have  already  gone  in  giving  the 
islanders  a  constantly  increasing  measure  of 
self-government  would  have  been  disastrous. 
At  the  present  moment  to  give  political  inde- 
pendence to  the  islands  would  result  in  the  im- 
mediate loss  of  civil  rights,  personal  liberty 
and  public  order,  as  regards  the  mass  of  the 
Filipinos,  for  the  majority  of  the  islanders 
have  been  given  these  great  boons  by  us,  and 
only  keep  them  because  we  vigilantly  safeguard 
and  guarantee  them.  To  withdraw  our  gov- 
ernment from  the  islands  at  this  time  would 
mean  to  the  average  native  the  loss  of  his  barely 
won  civil  freedom.  We  have  established  in  the 
islands  a  government  by  Americans,  assisted 
by  Filipinos.  We  are  steadily  striving  to 
transform  this  into  self-government  by  the 
Filipinos  assisted  by  Americans. 

The  principles  which  we  uphold  should  ap- 
peal to  all  our  countrymen,  in  all  portions  of 

223 


ACCEPTANCE   BY   PRESIDENT   ROOSEVELT 

our  country.  Above  all,  they  should  give  us 
strength  with  the  men  and  women  who  are  the 
spiritual  heirs  of  those  who  upheld  the  hands 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  for  we  are  striving  to  do 
our  work  in  the  spirit  with  which  Lincoln  ap- 
proached his.  During  the  seven  years  that 
have  just  passed  there  is  no  duty,  domestic  or 
foreign,  which  we  have  shirked;  no  necessary 
task  which  we  have  feared  to  undertake,  or 
which  we  have  not  performed  with  reasonable 
efficiency.  We  have  never  pleaded  impotence. 
We  have  never  sought  refuge  in  criticism  and 
complaint  instead  of  action.  We  face  the 
future  with  our  past  and  our  present  as  guar- 
antors of  our  promises,  and  we  are  content  to 
stand  or  to  fall  by  the  record  which  we  have 
made  and  are  making. 


224 


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